Business Strategy

Business strategy is about understanding your company‘s business model and its operating environment, defining a mid-to-long-term direction, and allocating resources effectively to achieve your goals.

For what purpose, what should be strengthened, and what should be discarded? These decisions must consider the business lifecycle stages: startup, growth, maturity, and decline.

The axis of judgment is the business model. During the startup phase, it needs to be established; in the growth phase, maintained; in the maturity phase, optimized; and in the decline phase, either revitalized or replaced with a new business model.

YSI identifies the strategies to be adopted from the perspective of the business model and supports the process from business planning to implementation.

Business Management

Business management is about running an organization created based on strategy in a "successful" manner. "Successful" in this context depends on the business model and business lifecycle.

Therefore, there are multiple ways forward for each company, and here lies each company's unique systems and know-how. Efficient and effective management is the cornerstone of a sustainable competitive advantage, making it a critical management issue.

YSI has broad experience in organizational operations, such as designing managerial accounting aligned with the business model, setting function-specific (department-specific) KPIs, establishing budget control/variance analysis systems, and managing cash flow.

By leveraging these experiences, we support the improvement of efficiency and effectiveness of business management at your company.

Executive Advisor

CEOs - especially presidents - often feel isolated, lacking peers who truly understand the unique challenges of their role. First-time CEOs in particular may struggle to find someone to confide in.

YSI has extensive experience unique to business leaders, encompassing both successes and failures. As such, YSI can serve as a trusted advisor, providing on-demand support and guidance tailored to your specific needs.

Promoting Intercultural Understanding

In this context, culture refers to both the national culture where a company operates, and the corporate culture shaped by its business model.

Both significantly influence work processes, such as meeting styles and decision-making processes. A lack of understanding of these differences can cause friction and conflicts within an organization.

This issue is prevalent in many companies to varying degrees but is especially noticeable in companies that have undergone cross-border M&As, akin to international marriages between companies.

To understand a culture different from one's own, it is essential first to deeply understand one's own culture- both national culture and corporate culture. YSI believes that this initial step of "knowing oneself" is crucial.

By respecting differences as unique traits rather than comparing them as better or worse, good or bad, organizations can make significant progress toward building a culture where these differences are shared as strengths.

YSI possesses deep expertise in both the management styles of Japanese companies, rooted in Japanese culture, and those of American companies, underpinned by American culture.

Therefore, if your business operates across both Japan and the United States, we can provide unique and balanced consulting services that integrate these two distinct perspectives.

Implementation of Business Management Systems

The implementation or upgrade of an enterprise-wide management system like ERP is akin to a spinal cord transplant in a human body- an extremely complex project.

Since almost every department is involved, project management becomes very challenging, and failure can be catastrophic, potentially jeopardizing the entire business.

Such projects cannot be carried out solely by the IT or operations departments; top management must be actively involved, and all employees need to be engaged.

Based on our experience, YSI believes that the following are essential to increase the success rate of such projects:

1. Narrowing the scope based on the business model
2. Internal agreement on goals and objectives
3. Early involvement of the vendor’s implementation team
4. Project management by top executives themselves
5. Thorough training and proficiency checks for end-users.

Due to the infrequency of such updates, it is difficult to transfer the know-how within the company. Therefore, leveraging external resources and learning from others' experiences is crucial.