Ina Food Industry Co. Ltd. ("Ina Food") is situated in the city of Ina, Nagano Prefecture, and encompassed by soaring mountains of Japanese Alps. Hiroshi Tsukakoshi, Ina Food’s chairman is aged 75 years, and has escorted the company via an incredible 55 years of continuous earnings and profit growth. The business is a top manufacturer of powdered agar, a traditional gelatin product derived from seaweed. In the summertime of 2012, Tsukakoshi is looking via the windows of his workplace in Ina City. He is thinking about how he aims for his business to be a corporation that is certainly cognizant of the international environment. He believes he's done a good job to date. The company will not present any issues that were urgent and it has prospered. Yet, he also feels that he should not simply settle back and savor his success. There's also an additional cause for concern: Japan's deflationary environment, consistent for 20 years now.
In this environment, even keeping costs constant means a comparative increase of cost. Tsukakoshi believes that, basically, as long as an organization is assured in the competitiveness of its own products, there are always methods to raise prices and increase profits. The key is increasing the costs of services and merchandise in a way the customers can accept. Increasing costs in a difficult economic climate is a high-risk decision. However, the business is successful in increasing the price under deflation. The organization has got successful results thanks to advertising, financing, producing, and allocating resources while the Japanese market faces serious issues.
PUBLICATION DATE: August 13, 2013 PRODUCT #: HK1011-HCB-ENG
This is just an excerpt. This case is about LEADERSHIP & MANAGING PEOPLE
Related Case Solutions & Analyses:
From Mental Models to Transformation: Overcoming Inhibitors to Change
NASCAR: Every Second Counts – Helping Win from the Pits
Southfield Packaging
Punch Up In the Potash Industry (A): Agrium Inc. – The Fertilizer Hits the Fan
Ramesh and Gargi (B)
Should Your Business Be Less Productive?
Technology Innovations in K-12 Education
The Demise of the Jane Addams Hull House Association: Internal or External Factors to Blame?
Thought Leader Interview: Dominic Barton
What Impact? A Framework for Measuring the Scale and Scope of Social Performance
