GK spoke with Toru Sato, President of Liberta Co., Ltd., about how Japanese monozukuri principles shape the company’s philosophy and its approach to creating future bestsellers.
In your opinion, what is it that makes Japanese products so desirable? What gives Japan a competitive advantage?
Firstly, my perception of why Japanese products are so excellent dates back to World War II. After World War II, Japan lost the war, but we needed to revitalize and restore the country. Subsequently, Japan entered a period of followed by the rapid growth of the economy. That is kind of the driving force for the Japanese economy.
The second reason, I think, is the Samurai spirit or the principle of the Samurai warriors in the Edo era. We have the basic philosophy of starting with discipline and ending with discipline. So, showing gratitude to others is a kind of base for Japanese people and the Japanese monozukuri.
What product areas are you currently experiencing the most growth in, and which are you looking to strengthen?
Of course, the US market is one big priority for us, because few Japanese SMEs have had success there. Our product, Baby Foot, has achieved a certain level of success in the US market, so we’re going to continue to do that. Meanwhile, the second largest market for Baby Foot is Norway, which might be surprising. It all depends on the marketing methods or strategy for the product to sell well and in what way.
Are there any new, innovative areas that you are looking to expand into?
Of course, we have to work on our existing categories of business, but as a marketing and branding company, we have to continue to develop new products. As I said, now we are working on creating a platform that the general public can use to produce ideas that we can commercialize, so that everyone can be happy with their products. That’s the mission of our company, and I believe that new products will come automatically from this attitude and approach.
Also, we produce different kinds of products in different markets, such as our Freeze Tech or Baby Foot brands. Behind every product, there are the manufacturers who actually produce those products on behalf of us. What we are doing is making our best effort to sell their products on their behalf. I believe that there’s a lot more hidden potential all over Japan. So, it’s our mission to dig out those excellent products and send them out to the market. Therefore, you can expect us to produce more products in the future.
