NEWS RELEASE

The comprehensive survey on the international business strategy in Japan

January 10, 2001

Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.

Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. (NRI: Tokyo, Shozo Hashimoto as the President & CEO) has carried out a survey, " International business strategy in Japan" on those who are in charge of international business planning in companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (except financial corporations), from November 15 to December 8, 2000. The valid samples amounted to 194 out of 1,204 (16.1% of response). Another topic, "Management on the international business and capital cooperation" was added to the questionnaire as well as the previous subjects, including "Outlook for the Asian economy" and "Corporate presence in the international market ".

<Optimistic expectation about the Asian economy>
67% of the respondents evaluated the Asian economy in 2000 as "Very Good/Good". As for the outlook for the Asian economy in 2001, 43.8% of the respondents expect it to be "The same level of this year (2000)" while only 8.8% foresee it to be "Bad". The ratio of those who evaluated the economy as "Very Good/Good" jumped to 53.7% in 1999 from 4.3% in 1997 and 1.0% in 1998.

<Japanese companies on the upturn in Asian market>
The ratio of the respondents answering that the business result of their own companies in 2000 was "Very Good/Good" reached 53.1%, substantiating the sound recovery from 19.4% (1997) and 9.3% (1998), along with 45.3% in 1999. As regards the outlook for 2001, 43.8% of the respondents reported that it would be "The same level of this year (2000)" while only 7.7% accounted for the expectation to be "Bad".

<Expanding businesses in China>
120 companies (61.9%) have considered inroads into China, while 64 companies (33.0%) place emphasis on Taiwan and 63 (32.5%) on Thailand. Apart from the Asian market, 116 companies (59.8%) put a high value on the North American market, followed by 68 companies (35.1%) on the Europe market.

<Accelerating tendency towards cooperation>
Approximately 80% of the respondents registered the need of international cooperation on the business and capital investment. 99 companies (63.1%) referred the main reason as reinforcement of business, with the next most importance being diversification of various risks by 74 companies (47%). In regard to international cooperation, 67 companies (42.7%) mentioned American companies as potential partners while 65 companies (41.4%) would be likely to choose Asian companies. In terms of selecting partners, 63 companies (40.1%) would find partners on their own followed by 43 companies (27.4%) using the Japanese financial institutions and 38 companies (24.2%) availing Japanese trading companies.
The detail of the survey is available: click here.
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Nomura Research Institute
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