There are following types of trade companies in Japan: a general trading company (‘Sogo shosha’) such as Itochu, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, which trades internationally in a wide range of products and materials and a specialized trading firm (‘Shosha’) such as Elematec, and Tokai-Electronics, which conduct trade deals in specific field, for example, electronics, material, and technology.
Tokai was facing limitations to find new suppliers and users because their business was mostly focused on the parts market. Now the company attempts to find new suppliers, experiencing a reportedly drop in sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tokai-Electronics, like Elematec, wants to be introduced Korea’s promising small and medium-sized enterprises and their products by Los Angeles Times Asia Journal. It doesn’t usually trade in a lot of finished goods, but the company looks forward to be introduced some of them whose core components can be supplied to users in various industries. Also, software itself is difficult to cover, but software such as Firmware to move the hardware is available.
Tokai-Electronics, based in Nagoya, founded 76 years ago in 1945. There are 355 employees in the group, 22 Subsidiaries (8 in Japan / 14 overseas) worldwide, and its worldwide users have about 1,000 units, with sales of 37,800 million yen last year. There are four business units (electronics, system, sensor, and material) under the marketing division, and in several divisions in charge of categories, including aviation, automobiles, medical services, and health, have been operating mainly on parts and introduction rather than finished products.
Although Tokai-Electronics doesn’t venture to find new users yet, it seems to be very significant in its move to pioneer new suppliers and improve business quality. Therefore, LA Times Asia Journal plans to introduce Korea’s promising SMEs and their products to Tokai so that this Japanese company can improve their business quality and revitalize East Asian business. It’s worth paying attention to whether Tokai-Electronics can take a first step toward new business.
Mike Choi
Asia Journal
(Los Angeles Times Advertising Supplement)
