John Dee/Harnet Corporation - Case Study
From the Asialink Business Japan Country Starter Pack
Frank Hart knows a lot about Japan and has plenty of insights for Australians wanting to do business there. But one piece of advice overrides all others: be patient, very patient – Japan is not a country where big things will happen for your business quickly.
Mr Hart is well qualified to dispense opinions on doing business in Japan. He has been selling Australian beef to the Japanese since the 1980s, and has lived in Tokyo for 23 years. His four-generation Queensland family business, John Dee Warwick, is a part of an export success story: Australian packaged beef sales to Japan are now worth well over $1 billion a year.
While other Australian suppliers are bigger in the Japanese beef market than John Dee Warwick, few individuals have spent more time getting to know the market – and the Japanese – than Frank Hart. His first business trip to Tokyo was in 1981, a time when the beef import market in Japan was heavily controlled by the Government through a system of tenders and quotas.
It was a ‘‘tough’’ initiation. ‘It was just a matter of working hard, seeing people, making sure we understood their requirements, what they wanted, making sure we gave good service, and looked after the customer, really,’’ he says.
But once he had established relationships of trust with Japanese buyers – trading companies and potential end users – he was struck by their loyalty. ‘’That’s why I like doing business in Japan,’’ Mr Hart says. ‘’Things happen slowly, but they do continue once you’ve got established, as long as you do the right thing. They’re very loyal.’’
Since establishing John Dee Warwick’s packaged beef export trade to Japan, Mr Hart has expanded his businesses interests there. For the past 17 years he has also run Harnet Corporation, which is an importer and distributor of a range of seafood to Japan from the EU, USA, Australia and Thailand, as well as meat products from Australia.
As he has racked up the years of service in Japan, Mr Hart says he has acquired a strong understanding of Japanese culture, giving him a much better perception of local food trends and the products that suit Japanese customers. While Japanese language skills are not essential for Australians wanting to do business there (Mr Hart only picked up the language after arriving) an appreciation of Japanese ways can be a distinct advantage during the long hours of meetings, bonding and trust-building with prospective Japanese business partners.
‘’If you’re living here, you’re living in their territory, so you need to abide by the rules, and understand their culture, even if you can’t speak Japanese. The main thing is to respect the culture that they have.’’
A nuanced appreciation of cultural differences is particularly helpful when it gets down to detailed negotiations with prospective Japanese partners. ‘‘Many Australians tend to put a price on their product, and not move,’’ Mr Hart says.
‘’But you’ve got to be able to trade, so you always need an offer price at a level that can be negotiated in order to achieve a price that’s mutually acceptable. It’s no good being impatient about it if that’s the way it is; if you can’t understand the system and negotiates, then it’s very difficult to business.’’
Another essential aspect of doing business in Japan is participation in post-business entertainment. ‘’It is important in the bonding process that you are able to do the entertaining, be a good drinker and be able to recover and work properly the next day,’’ Mr Hart says. ‘’If you’re seeing customers and developing bonds, that’s the sort of thing that you’ve got to do.
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