Following the period known as the Lost Decades, Japan finally saw some signs of ending deflation, returning economic growth and renewed business dynamism. . More importantly to us, the overall stock market valuation tends to get reasonable during the economic dawn. We got our boots on the ground in the land of the rising sun and spent days meeting with corporate executives and local money managers.
Fortunately, with its focus on innovation and mission to “become a part of people’s daily life,” the company has been exploring new verticals and successfully tapped into a couple of them. Tabelog, which used to be part of the price-comparison site, has now become a household name when it comes to restaurant discovery . It also pioneered the online reservation in Japan, the country with the highest density of restaurants per capita .
While its core business is maturing, Tobila has a decent track record of capturing adjacent opportunities. The business-phone segment, for example, now accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the total revenue and has been growing at between high-double-digit and triple-digit rates over recent years, albeit a lower profit margin. The management expects this segment to become the second pillar for the total group, after the mobile filtering business.’s 40 per cent) across well-run Japanese companies.
3. Circle of competence: “invert, always invert!” Admit the competitive disadvantage when it comes to the language and culture. Hiring a translator to talk to the management and having boots on the ground may help fill the competitive gap.