21Cross-Border Business Development
How to Build a Target Account List in Japan
How foreign B2B companies can build a focused Japan target-account list using customer fit, market signals, account relevance and buying-group research.
Insights
Perspectives on market entry, business development and cross-border execution.
Observations from working between Japan, the United States and other markets—where strategy, relationships and execution meet.
20Cross-Border Business Development
How to Approach Japanese Companies for B2B Sales
How foreign B2B companies can approach Japanese prospects with better targeting, relevance, credibility, introductions and disciplined follow-up.
19Cross-Border Business Development
Reframing What Already Exists: How Cultural and Industrial Capabilities Create New Markets
Japan’s KOGEI opens a wider question: how can countries and companies turn existing cultural and industrial capabilities into new markets?
18Cross-Border Business Development
How to Find the Right Distributor in Japan
How foreign B2B companies can find the right distributor in Japan by defining target customers, partner requirements, sourcing channels and qualification criteria.
17Cross-Border Business Development
Selling Recovery Across Borders: TENTIAL’s BAKUNE and the Challenge of Brand Translation
How Japan's TENTIAL is taking BAKUNE global through brand localization, differing medical-device regulations, premium pricing, and B2B partnerships.
16Cross-Border Business Development
How to Evaluate a Distributor in Japan Before You Commit
How foreign B2B companies can evaluate and compare distributor candidates in Japan: customer access, fit, priority, economics, execution, evidence and exclusivity.
15Cross-Border Business Development
Building Less, Transforming More: What Adaptive Reuse Reveals About Market Incentives
At Building Less, Transforming More in New York, architects, an engineer, and policymakers explored why transforming existing buildings requires more than good design. Their discussion reveals how economic incentives in…
14Cross-Border Business Development
Products Cross Borders Faster Than Meaning: What the FHH New York Watch Summit Shows About Building Brand Value
The FHH New York Watch Summit 2026 showed how perceived value, fragmented U.S. demand and customer experience can shape international market entry — even when the product itself is already strong.
13Cross-Border Business Development
Japan’s Luxury Resale Strength Isn’t Just the Product. It’s the Trust Infrastructure Behind It.
Japan’s luxury resale strength goes beyond well-kept products. Authentication, disclosure and accountability show how trust itself can become a global business capability.
12Uncategorized
Japan’s Medical DX Is Moving From Digitization to Standardization — What Overseas Healthtech Companies Should Understand
Japan’s healthcare digitalization is moving toward standardization, interoperability and cloud infrastructure. What this means for overseas healthtech companies entering Japan.
11Cross-Border Business Development
From Ownership to Discernment: What Highsnobiety’s ‘Status Economy’ Says About Gen Z, Hospitality, and the New Language of Status
Highsnobiety’s three-part Status Economy research suggests that status is no longer expressed primarily through fashion. After Groceries and Beauty, its Hospitality report explores how restaurants, bars, travel and phys…
10Cross-Border Business Development
Market Entry Should Create a Feedback Loop: What L’Oréal Japan Shows About Learning From Local Markets
Entering a market should not only require a company to adapt locally. A useful market presence can also generate knowledge, relationships and insights that improve decisions elsewhere.
09Cross-Border Business Development
One Brand, Multiple Generations: What Beauty Marketing Is Getting Right
Launchmetrics’ 2026 beauty research suggests a lesson beyond beauty: brands can broaden their audience without diluting their identity by keeping the core message consistent and changing the voice, channel and format.
08Cross-Border Business Development
Why a Strong Product Is Not Enough to Win an Overseas Partner
A strong product can open the door in a new market. But partner commitment depends on market relevance, commercial logic, evidence and a reason to make the opportunity a priority.
07Cross-Border Business Development
Different Markets, Different Jobs: What Goldwin’s Global Strategy Shows About Market Selection
Market selection is not only about where the opportunity is largest. Goldwin’s global expansion shows how different markets can serve different strategic roles.
06Cross-Border Business Development
A Strong Brand Is Not Enough: What HUMAN MADE’s UNDERCOVER Deal Shows About Global Growth
HUMAN MADE’s plan for UNDERCOVER highlights a crucial distinction: global brand recognition does not automatically create a scalable global business.
05Cross-Border Business Development
Beyond Export: How Collaboration Can Bring Japanese Craftsmanship Into Global Markets
What the PINSTRIPE collaboration around Soho House Tokyo suggests about another route to international market entry for Japanese craft and manufacturing companies.
04Cross-Border Business Development
Portugal’s Fashion Manufacturing Model: Where Craftsmanship Meets Market Demand
Portugal’s fashion and footwear industry shows how craftsmanship, industrial innovation and sustainability still require one more element: market demand.
03Cross-Border Business Development
Entering Japan Through Local Partnerships: What Finland’s Oldest Bakery Ekberg Shows
Finland’s oldest bakery, Ekberg, shows how foreign companies can combine local representation, production, retail access and brand control when entering Japan.
02Cross-Border Business Development
Distributor or Business Development Partner? Choosing the Right Path Into Japan
For foreign B2B companies entering Japan, choosing a distributor is often treated as the first step. In many cases, the better first question is what still needs to be learned before committing to a channel partner.
01Cross-Border Business Development
23 Years Between Markets
Notes on judgment, translation and execution between Japan, the U.S. and other markets.