Yamato Holdings, owner of Yamato Transport and approximately 50 other subsidiaries in 7 business divisions, posted its report to the Tokyo Stock Exchange on its business performance for the period ending March 2012.
In addition to its financial statements and updates on its consolidated subsidiaries, Yamato made it clear in its report its ambitions in the coming years and key focus areas in the immediate future.
It should be noted that simply expanding their international footprint is not what Yamato’s international business strategy is about.
Yamato launched Ta-Q-Bin in Malaysia in November 2011, and reports that the half-day delivery lead time for stationery in Shanghai has been well received.
Such local services to offer more convenience to the community is what Yamato does best. Wherever it goes, Yamato aims to burrow itself into the local market as a local player who has an established track record in being the No.1 service provider in Japan and someone who understands and wants to offer more convenience and contribute to enhanced quality of life for its customers.
In the report, Yamato lists the challenges they will be taking on in FY2013 (period ending on 31 March 2013) as follows:
1) To draw on its business success in Japan and established markets to further expand into the major markets in Asia while strengthening the network that connects its various overseas posts to more effectively support both consumers and businesses through its international network.
2) To further enhance features for Kuroneko Members, a free of charge membership service now with electronic money functions and other functionality, to align itself more closely to the local markets of its members to remove as many impediments for convenient shopping as possible to establish a more sophisticated home delivery service portfolio.
3) Ongoing productivity improvement in the collection and administration sections including a review of sorting operations and enhancing the network for higher productivity and quality in transportation and delivery networks to strengthen Yamato’s profitability and competitiveness.
4) To create new businesses by comprehensively drawing on its established management resources of information systems and logistics functions through the realization of value-added logistics and international end to end logistics management to offer more convenience to customers.
5) To further promote profitable and sustainable operations and enhanced corporate governance through aggressively pursuing environment conscious policies, safety policies and corporate social responsibility policies to make Yamato the most approachable, close, and loved business group in its community.
They truly are taking the “glocal” approach: to think global but act local.
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