Japanese companies learn overseas marketing knowledge; transfer and
internalize it within themselves; and evolve – we define this mode as three-step AI
transfer or AI evolution, which realizes internal globalization. Product transfer stages,
typically, follow this pattern: a Japanese company learns about a certain product
category (such as home electric appliances) from the West, adopts and imitates it,
and produces a second-and-cheaper product to launch as Japan’s first-to-market
exploration. Next, by adapting and improving what has been learned, the company
makes a second-but-better (performing/functioning) product and evolves the existing
market. Eventually, the company becomes adept and innovative, enabling the
delivery of a first-and-best product on the world market, with a view to creating a new
niche.
Meanwhile, the transfer operation carried out by Japanese companies seeking
growth opportunities overseas can be described as a two-stage SA transfer, of
standardization and adaptation, facilitating external globalization. It is still fresh in our
memory that in the home electric appliance sector, Japanese companies once swept
the world with successful SA exports and SA local production while undergoing AI
evolution.
Japanese companies are now learning from consumers worldwide, and in addition
to taking the adaptation stage of SA transfer, by conducting AI transfer in local
markets, they are developing and selling localized products or local-specific brands.