Issue08 : 22 July 2014

The Executive Director of the Organisation for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, Japan (SMRJ) – or SME Support Japan – talks to Horizon Thailand about the Kingdom’s opportunity to become the SME hub of ASEAN.

Yuzuru Hata

Can you explain what SME Support, Japan is about?
SME Support, Japan is the only national administrative agency which primarily implements SME-related policy programmes in cooperation with Japan’s Ministry of Economy Trade & Industry’s SME Agency. It specialises in providing comprehensive management support, giving planned hands-on support, and giving extensive support utilising its networks with Japanese SMEs. Its role is to foster Supporting Industries through the promotion of business partnerships among SMEs in the APEC region.

How do you support Japanese SMEs?
The Japanese government has a policy to encourage about 10,000 Japanese SMEs to go overseas. SME Support, Japan is also there to support the policy by providing a programme to support the growth and development of SME companies through internationalisation. This involves three plans. The first is to help with the managerial issues of overseas expansion. The second is the promotion of overseas expansion projects through events such as international exhibitions, the CEO Network Enhancing Project and supporting development of sales channels utilising business matching sites. The third is the support for seminars, training, and info-service by nine SME universities in Japan.

Can you give us an example of a SME exchange between Japan and Thailand?
Through the SMEs’ CEO Network Enhancing Project, Japan collaborated with the Ministry of Industry of Thailand and invited 20 Thai companies specialising in aircraft parts, railway vehicle parts, agricultural machines and medical equipment to meetings with Japanese companies in Tokyo and Hiroshima in January 2014. The total amount of business deals was about US$29 million.

Why is Thailand an interesting destination for Japanese SMEs?
Thailand and Japan has had a long friendship and a long history together. This makes it easier for Japanese SMEs to decide to come to Thailand. Also, because Japan needs to import many natural resources each year, Thailand, which has abundant resources, is a suitable destination for being Japan’s production base. In exchange for these resources, Japan has technology and know-how to help Thailand’s production. This creates a win-win scenario for both countries.

What is the likelihood for Thailand becoming the hub for SMEs in ASEAN?
Thailand is already the number one hub for SMEs in ASEAN. It has the best infrastructure in ASEAN. Especially for the automotive industry, Thailand has the best infrastructure to support the Japanese automotive SMEs. Japanese R&D and know-how also helps contribute to keep car production costs down. These make Thailand a good production and selling base.

How can Thai companies benefit from collaboration with Japanese counterparts?
Thai companies can get direct contacts with Japanese companies through government-organised business matching events. SME Support, Japan and the Thai Government will also support and help plan successful collaborations for each business counterparts.

What are SME Support Japan’s future plans?
SME Support, Japan will continue taking Thai SME CEOs to business meeting events in Japan in 2015. Also, there will likely be a programme to bring Japanese CEO to business matching events in Thailand, too.

For further information, visit: http://www.smrj.go.jp/english