The Study of Japanese Food Businesses in Taiwan

Abstract

<Motivation>\n In recent years many Japanese food related companies have focused on Taiwan as their priority investment area. Many of them just regard Taiwan as a pro-Japan area which has a good business climate especially for the Japanese. However, Taiwan is not Japan, and Taiwan has its own markets, tastes, habits, business customs and personality. Japanese business people, who hope to invest into Taiwan, have to understand that Taiwan has its own characteristics and differences with Japan, and they have to fully research Taiwan from the viewpoint of their own items before they decide to invest. I hope to let many Japanese business people better understand and become more familiar with the Japanese food business in Taiwan before they invest there and this is the motivation for my thesis.\n\n<Purposes> \n At the moment we can find many kinds of Japanese food in Taiwan. For example, in the basement of SOGO or the Breeze Center, which is high ranking supermarket in Taipei, we can find many kinds of Japanese food, which are the same as in Tokyo. Compared with other Asian countries such as China, South Korea and ASEAN countries, Japanese food seems to be more competitive in Taiwan. In chapter 2 of this thesis I am firstly going to examine how and why Japanese food items are actually competitive in Taiwan. In chapter 3, for the purpose of understanding it more completely, I am also going to specifically outline the importation of five leading items from Japan to Taiwan, as well as their distribution systems in Taiwan.\n Secondly, I am going to reveal the present situation facing the Japanese food industry in Taiwan. Nowadays many Japanese food industry companies are discussing foreign investment because of the population decline in Japan. They expect to expand to new markets in foreign areas. Many of them focus on Taiwan as their key investment area because Taiwan is widely perceived as pro-Japan area and reported to be a good area for doing Japanese related business. As a result, Japanese food companies sometimes mistakenly believe that business circumstances in Taiwan are the same as in Japan, and they unwisely decide to invest there. \nOn the contrary, Taiwan is actually different to Japan on many points. Most Japanese food industry companies have to first research Taiwan, and increase their general knowledge about Taiwan’s markets, tastes, habits, business customs and characteristics before they decide to invest. In chapter 4, I gather and analyze general information and data on Japanese food businesses in Taiwan, and clearly define Taiwan’s characteristics and differences with Japan based on the empirical knowledge of Japanese people involved in the food industry business in Taiwan. I hope Japanese food industry companies will fully make use of this vital data before they invest in Taiwan, and that the Taiwanese food industry companies themselves also recognize their own differences with Japan.\n Finally in chapter 5, I make some conclusions and suggestions. In my suggestions, I particularly emphasize problems and solutions when promoting Japanese food (products) in Taiwan. Currently promotion for Japanese food (products) in Taiwan is mainly carried out by each prefecture of Japan. However, it is not so effective because identical types of products are promoted many times in the same year by nearby prefectures. The prefectures would do better by cooperating with each other and holding bigger promotions for identical types of goods, which would result in more effective promotions. In this chapter I suggest more effective ways of promoting Japanese food (products) from the viewpoint of the whole of Japan.