Tag: europe

Toyota Group dominates Top 30 Japanese employers in Europe, Middle East & Africa

We’ve revised our Top 30 Japanese employers in Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) again, this time to include Toyota Tsusho (in at #12) and Toyota Boshoku (in at #29), bumping NYK and Suntory out of the rankings.

The 30 biggest Japanese employers in EMEA now represent over 460,000 employees, around 12% of their total global employment.  EMEA employee totals have increased more than the global totals, at around 6% from 2014/5 to 2015/6 compared to <0.5% worldwide, showing that the region is still growing for Japanese companies.  As you might expect, the total employment in Japan is shrinking, by about 2% year on year.

Adding Toyota Tsusho and Toyota Boshoku made me appreciate once again how important the car industry continues to be worldwide as a source of employment and also how dominant the Toyota Group is.  5 out of the Top 30 are Toyota Group companies (JTEKT and Denso as well as Toyota Tsusho, Toyota Boshoku and Toyota Motor).  A further 4 are purely automotive (Yazaki, Nissan, Bridgestone, Honda) and 6 have automotive related companies in their group (Sumitomo Electric Industries, Hitachi, Asahi Glass, NSG, Panasonic and Toshiba).

Toyota Tsusho is not entirely focused on cars however.  It is a general trading company, and is particularly strong in Africa, since it acquired the French company CFAO in 2012.  CFAO has an automotive sales network but that is only part of its business.  Toyota Boshoku makes automotive components such as seating, door trims and air filters.

Similarly, 8 out of the Top 30 Japanese employers in the UK are automotive and a further 2 have automotive related businesses in the group.  Our revised Top 30 now included Sumitomo Rubber, who have not only acquired the global rights to the Dunlop brand but also bought a UK tyre distributor Micheldever earlier this year.

If you would like more customised reports on the Top 30 Japanese employers in Europe, Middle East & Africa (showing trends in total global employees, Japan based employees, EMEA based employees) and the Top 30 Japanese employers in the UK (showing trends in total UK employees, regional HQ location, region covered, percentage UK of Europe and of global) please contact pernilledotrudlinatrudlinconsultingdotcom

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April – a time for cleaning and renewal in Japan and Europe

Japanese people living in northern Europe tell me they miss the distinctive four seasons of Japan.  At first this seems a strange thing to say to most Europeans, as we believe we have four distinct seasons too.  But it is true that changes in the season are far less predictable than in Japan, and from autumn through to spring there can be a succession of indistinguishable grey, wet, cold days.

Spring has come earlier than normal this year thanks to an unusually warm winter.  The daffodils and crocuses are already beginning to bloom in the parks where I walk my dog and this weekend my husband and I remarked how busy and energised the town seemed.  Although the end of season sales are still dragging on, the new spring stock is in, with fresh, lighter colours in the window.  The bright sunshine pushed me outdoors to clean the outside of our windows of the winter grime and my husband has nearly finished repainting the kitchen.

Spring cleaning vs the Big Clean

We call this “spring cleaning” in the UK – similar to the Osoji (Big Cleaning) that happens in Japan for the New Year.  We don’t do much cleaning around New Year partly because the days are so short – getting dark by 4pm with the sun rising as late as 8am at the end of December.  Even in the daylight hours it is too gloomy to see the dirt.

Spring is also a time of rebirth and renewal in the Christian calendar.  From February 10th to March 24th this year is a period called Lent, when you are meant to give up vices such as drinking alcohol or smoking or eating favourite foods such as chocolate.  This is a way of remembering the 40 days that Jesus spent fasting in the desert and is supposed to be a spiritual preparation for Easter (the weekend of 26th and 27th March this year), which commemorates the death and resurrection of Jesus.  These dates change from year to year – Easter and Lent in 2017 will be three weeks later than 2016.

Pre-Christian origins of Easter

Actually the word “Easter” has pre-Christian origins – deriving from an old Germanic word for dawn. According to the 8th century historian, Bede, there was a northern European pagan goddess of dawn, Eostre, whose symbol was a hare or rabbit – which is thought to be why so many Easter decorations feature rabbits.  Another symbol of Easter, the egg, either made from chocolate or painted hen’s eggs, is also pre-Christian, when people gave each other eggs as gifts around the time of the spring equinox.

A time for cleansing and renewal in Japan and Europe

So, while the financial year of April 1st to March 31st is not as universal in Europe as it is in Japan, and our academic year actually starts in September/October, March and April are still a good time to renew and refresh the company.  The rhythms of a cleansing and preparation period in February and March, followed by a new lease of life in April have deep roots in the European psyche.

This article was originally published in the Teikoku Databank News in March 2016

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Amsterdam is first choice for Japanese companies’ regional HQ in Europe post Brexit

Not Amsterdam – Huis ten Bosch in Nagasaki, Japan

“When the UK leaves the EU, it is the strongest candidate for regional headquarters” says one Japanese manufacturer about Amsterdam, in the Nikkei Business magazine.  Since the UK said it would leave the Single Market, Japanese companies have started their search for new regional HQ locations.  Although Frankfurt and Zurich are also in the game, Amsterdam is seen as particularly strong.

There are many pluses: low taxes, and various regimes to suit different businesses.  The logistics infrastructure is robust and it is easy to access the other main economies in Europe from there.  Additionally, the lifestyle is congenial for Japanese people.

A priority for Japanese companies is the financial infrastructure.  “If we are physically close to our financial services suppliers, then we can easily exchange information and opinions” says the manufacturer.  Of Japan’s megabanks, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Mizuho have regional coordinating operations in Amsterdam.  There is a possibility that Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation will also move its European coordination activities to Amsterdam.

However, Japanese companies who are looking at moving their base to Amsterdam have one increasing headache, which is the uncertainty of the Dutch political situation.  In a survey from 2016 (ie before the election where Wilders’ Party for Freedom did not do as well as feared) of the members of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands, political, economic and social environment came second as an increasing area of concern, after worries about employment (being able to hire or bring in Japanese employees, tax, pensions and ability to lay off workers).  The third biggest area of concern was for expatriate visas and the process of obtaining ID cards.  4th was the legal and regulatory framework – obtaining permits, approvals, meeting standards and whether those standards are appropriate.

There is a concern that if the Netherlands cracks down on immigration, it will be difficult to hire a diverse labour force – one of the UK’s traditional strengths and attractions for Japanese companies.

Reports, profiles and other research on the Top 30 largest Japanese companies in Europe, Middle East and Africa are available to subscribers to our premium, paid newsletter – subscriptions are available here.

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Automotive sector continues to dominate Top 30 Japanese companies in the UK and EMEA

Toshiba has finally published its 2016 CSR report – somewhat low key and apologetic –  as you might imagine given its recent troubles.  It confirms that the total number of employees globally has shrunk by over 5%, with employee numbers in Europe/Africa down 10% and 6% lower in Japan.

Toshiba is still in our Top 30 Japanese employers in Europe/EMEA (see February update below) but is out of our Top 30 Japanese employers in the UK, having lost around 180 employees in 2015/6, bringing the total across all the businesses (nuclear, retail, electronic, medical – although the latter transfer to Canon at some point soon I believe) to 815.

We have added Japanese automotive suppliers NSK and Unipres to the UK Top 30 (see below for download) and revised the automotive sector analysis accordingly (see below for report).  It is increasingly apparent that while the car “brands” such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan might be slightly shrinking their workforces in the region, their suppliers are expanding.

The 9 automotive companies’ 25,000 employees in the UK represent around 1/3 of the total for the UK Top 30, and employee numbers have grown around 2% in 2015/6 in the UK, compared to 7% for the whole region.

Toyo Keizai has published some new rankings on topics such as which of the major Japanese companies’ turnover has increased/decreased the most the past decade, from which we have pulled out our Top 30 UK/EMEA as follows.  As you can see, automotive (names in bold) dominates the big growers too.

Companies whose turnovers have increased the most in the past decade:

  • Toyota #1 (8th largest Japanese company in both the UK and EMEA region)
  • Nissan #4 (#2 in the UK, #10 in EMEA)
  • Daikin #10 (#22 in EMEA) (airconditioning)
  • Bridgestone #14 (#13 in EMEA)
  • Sumitomo Electric Industries #16 (#1 in EMEA)
  • Lixil #23 (#20 in EMEA) (Kitchen, bathroom, housing fittings – acquired Grohe 2015)
  • NTT Data #26 (#7 in EMEA)
  • JTEKT #29 (#22 in EMEA)
  • Sony #32 (#6 in the UK, #14 in EMEA)

Conversely, the electronics companies dominate the list of those companies whose turnovers have shrunk the most in the past decade:

  • Panasonic #1 (#18 in EMEA)
  • Toshiba #2 (#17 in EMEA)
  • Sharp #3 (has dropped out of our Top 30)
  • Fujifilm #18  (has dropped out of our Top 30)
  • Olympus #19 (#24 in the UK, #27 in EMEA)

Although Panasonic has been busy rebadging itself as an automotive company recently.

And a different angle from Toyo Keizai on corporate health – those companies with the best retention rates who are also in our Top 30 UK or EMEA are:

  • Denso #2 (#16 in the UK, #11 EMEA)
  • Toyota #3 (#8 in the UK and EMEA)
  • Mitsubishi Corporation #10 (#19 UK, #28 EMEA)
  • Dentsu #16 (#10 UK, #12 EMEA)
  • Canon #22 (#9 UK, #4 EMEA)
  • Hitachi #26 (#7 UK, #5 EMEA)
  • Honda #26 (#4 UK, #21 in EMEA)
  • Itochu #26 (#3 UK, #25 EMEA)
  • MUFG #39 (#13 UK)
  • SMBC #39 (#29 UK)
  • Daikin #39 (#24 EMEA)
  • Bridgestone #39 (#13 EMEA)
  • Panasonic #55 (#18 EMEA) (some automotive)
  • Fujitsu #55 (#1 UK, #3 EMEA)
  • Toshiba #55 (#17 EMEA)
  • Asahi Glass #62 (#9 EMEA) (some automotive)
  • Nissan #67 (#2 UK, #10 EMEA)
  • Olympus #79 (#24 UK, #27 EMEA)

For further customised reports and databases on Japanese companies in Europe and the UK please contact pernilledotrudlinatrudlinconsultingdotcom

 

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CSR rankings for Top 30 Japanese companies in Europe

More than half of the Top 30 largest Japanese companies in Europe are also in the Top 50 Japanese listed companies for CSR according to the Toyo Keizai. Which is reassuring, although there are some notable no-shows and laggers.

Fujifilm (#29 of our Top 30 in Europe) leads the CSR rankings and Canon, Ricoh, Denso and Bridgestone are all in the top 10.

Toyo Keizai has published the 10th edition of its annual CSR research into 1325 listed Japanese companies and previewed the top 700 of these in its online magazine, from which we have extracted the rankings for the Top 30 Japanese companies in Europe and in the UK.

Rankings are based on evaluations made in 4 categories of:

  1. Human resources – Family friendly policies, diversity (gender, age, LGBT, disability etc), health and safety, graduate retention rates – and whether there are any non-Japanese executives
  2. Environment
  3. Corporate governance  – whether there is a CSR executive, any evidence of corruption or cartels, values and vision, risk management, crisis management policies
  4. Sociality – volunteering (including overseas) , NPO/NGO alliances, ISO standards

Top 30 companies in Europe that are not in the CSR top 700 include some surprises – Nippon Sheet Glass (Pilkington), Fast Retailing and Yazaki (which is privately owned anyway).

Hitachi has fallen from #39 to 147 and Olympus has improved to reach #175 from 263 in 2015 – which seems to imply its post-scandal clean up is working (although it seems Olympus is now suing Michael Woodford and one other UK director for repayment of some pension funds, so clearly the battle is not over yet).

Toshiba has fallen to #52 from #14, unsurprisingly given its recent governance problems.  Toyo Keizai notes that other slippages such as Denso from #3 to #6 and Toyota from #8 to #16 are largely to do with delays or non disclosure in progress with gender diversity, specifically, women in management positions.  Nissan slipped from #5 to #11 due to governance issues.

Companies which scored the best on Human Resources metrics that are also in the Top 30 European companies are Sony, Nissan, Fujifilm, Japan Tobacco and Toshiba.  Best scores on environment were Nissan, Daikin, Bridgestone, Ricoh, Canon, Honda, Denso, Toyota, Toshiba, Sony, Fujifilm, Konica Minolta and Suntory.  Best scores on governance were Ricoh, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Konica Minolta, Bridgestone, Sony, Asahi Glass and Honda.

Reports on the CSR rankings of the Top 30 largest Japanese companies in Europe, Middle East and Africa are available to subscribers to our premium, paid newsletter – subscriptions are available here.

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Over half of Top 30 Japanese companies have their European HQ in the UK

A regularly cited statistic in the current EU referendum is that 60% of non-European companies have their European HQ in the UK.  I have just revised our Top 30 Japanese companies in Europe and found that 16 out of the 30 biggest Japanese employers in the region (some companies cover Africa, Turkey, Middle East, Russia from their European HQ) have their regional headquarters in the UK – which is 53%, so slightly under the overall average.  Together they directly employ nearly 420,000 people in the region.

I added Yazaki (a privately held, relatively unknown but huge automotive components supplier) – straight in at number 2.  Their European HQ is in Germany, covering Europe and factories in Africa.  The factories do of course bulk out the total of 45,200 employees in the Europe and Africa region.

If Brexit does happen, the UK could still cite historical and Commonwealth ties as a case for locating a Europe & Africa or EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) HQ in London, but clearly for the automotive industry this is not a significant factor.  Only Honda has their European headquarters in the UK, and automotive parts suppliers tend to follow their customers.

Most of the brand name electronics companies have based their European headquarters in the UK.  The financial companies do not have such large numbers of employees, so whilst nearly all of them have their headquarters in London, they are not in the Top 30.

Adding Yazaki has pushed out electric motor manufacturer Nidec – but I suspect Nidec will soon be back in, given how acquisition hungry it seems to be.

Reports, profiles and other research on the Top 30 largest Japanese companies in Europe, Middle East and Africa are available to subscribers to our premium, paid newsletter – subscriptions are available here.

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