"Management's Aspirations" features interviews with managers who have overcome various challenges to hear about the aspirations they value as managers and the thoughts they want to achieve through their businesses.
In the first edition, Mr. Yusuke Ichimori, President and CEO of Fujitex Co., Ltd., and Mr. Kei Shiotsuka, Executive Vice President of Fujitex Co., Ltd. and our investment principals,
​Taishi Mizutani and Shinya Koike, talked about future business pursuits.

【profile】
Fujitex Co., Ltd. President Yusuke Ichimori
Graduated from Kansai University. In 2003, he joined Fujitec (currently Fujitex) as a new graduate. After working in sales, marketing, product development, and procurement departments, he held positions such as general manager of the sales promotion department and general manager of the property management department. After serving as Executive Officer in 2011 and Director in 2015, he was appointed President and CEO of Fujitex in April​ ​2020. Completed the Master of Business Design (MPD) course at the Graduate School of Project Design.

Fujitex Co., Ltd. Executive Vice President Takashi Shiotsuka
Graduated from Seinan Gakuin University. In 2000, he joined Fujitec (currently Fujitex) as a new graduate. In addition to the sales promotion business and environmental business, he was involved in the launch of new businesses such as reconstruction business, logistics business, reuse business, opening of the Tohoku headquarters (Sendai), and Administration Division work such as personnel affairs and legal affairs. After experiencing many failures, he was appointed as Executive Vice President in 2020. Completed the Master of Business Design (MPD) course at the Graduate School of Project Design.

[What's Fujitex Co., Ltd.]
Under the mission of "playing a role in society through our business", Fujitex anticipates changes in the market environment and customer trends, continues to create new businesses as a "collection of merchants", and has achieved discontinuous growth to date. In addition to the three main businesses of sales promotion, environment, and logistics, it is now a general trading company with five growth businesses: energy, reuse, human resources, health, and sanitation.


portfolio

Aiming to develop 100 businesses in line with customer needs and changing times

- Please tell us about Fujitex's business.

Shiotsuka Our company started out as a trading company specializing in laminated films used for store sales promotions and restaurant menus. From there, we started selling all sorts of promotional materials, such as large inkjet printers and output paper, as well as commissioned production of promotional materials. Currently, we are developing​ ​8 businesses such as "Sales Promotion", "Environment", "Energy", "Logistics", "Reuse", "Sanitation", "Health" and "Human Resources". One of our management goals is the 100 business concept, which aims to become a trading company with sales of 100 billion yen.

ーYou have a wide range of business domains, but on what axis are you expanding your business?

Shiotsuka Many of our businesses are based on customer issues that we find on the sales floor. One example is the environmental business. When the company was first founded, we helped laminating price cards used by local liquor stores. Customers often say, "Crushing bottles by hand is dangerous." That's how the business of selling bottle crushers was born. This has evolved into the environmental business, which is now a pillar of earnings along with the sales promotion business.

​ ​Ichimori There are businesses that were launched based on the management decision of Company, but it is not the management team that actually interacts with customers, but the sales staff in the field, so we make sure that they can make proposals based on what they have seen, heard, and intuitively sensed to the top. We don't have a president's office, so I communicate with employees on a daily basis to understand customer needs.

"Field capabilities" that overcame the slump in performance due to the corona crisis

-Both of you joined Fujitex as new graduates and were appointed as president and vice president in 2020.
What was your first mission as head of the company?

Ichimori At that time, the company was on the verge of reaching 10 billion yen in sales, and our mission was to drive growth beyond that. However, it coincided with the timing of the spread of the corona infection, and I was in a situation where I had to overcome the wall in front of me first. Due to the self-restraint of store operations and events, the performance of the sales promotion, environment, and logistics businesses, which are our main businesses, fell suddenly. As soon as I became the person in charge of management, I was faced with an unprecedented crisis, and I was desperate every day.

-How did you overcome the crisis?

Ichimori  We are a company that has developed its business in line with customer needs and the changing times. Believing that we can demonstrate our strength in such a situation, we launched a sanitation business that sells hygiene management products such as alcohol and partitions that customers needed at the time. Using the overseas network that we had originally, we somehow managed to purchase products, and all of us sold them across the boundaries of business divisions.

At our company, each employee is conscious of being a merchant, and the mindset of adapting to changes in the times and customers is deeply rooted. The culture of cross-selling is also pervasive, and the standard style is to sell products other than those of our own division if we can solve the customer's problems, and to develop products if necessary. The reason why we were able to start the sanitation business even in the midst of the chaos of the corona crisis is that our employees have a strong "field capability" to think and act on their own, and the organization has a strong antenna for customer needs and new businesses. As a result, the company recorded its highest profit that year. It was the first time since I joined the company that the whole company came together like this.

Shiotsuka The sanitation business that was launched against this background was initially for existing customers of each business, but along the way we were able to connect with new customers in fields such as nursing care, welfare, and education. In particular, nursing care is an important industry that will support society in the future, so we are considering launching a new business that sells products and provides information to the nursing care industry.

I was able to visualize our growth beyond a "100 billion yen trading company"

From the left, JAFCO Mizutani, Mr. Shiotsuka, Mr. Ichimori, and JAFCO Koike

- In July​ ​2022, you made a new start with a capital tie-up with JAFCO. Could you tell us how it happened?

Shiotsuka This capital tie-up was considered several years ago by our founder, Hideya Higashi (Chairman of the Advanced Academic Agency), in order to make our company independent from the group and grow further. When we actually recruited capital alliance partners, several companies raised their hands, and JAFCO was selected as our partner after interviewing about 10 companies. Over the past 50 years, JAFCO has invested in more than 4,000 companies. Rather than talking about finance, JAFCO accurately presented what was necessary for our company to grow and it was the most gentlemanly company to deal with. I heard that was the deciding factor.

Ichimori JAFCO's proposal presented by Chairman Higashi  left a deep impression on me. Their roadmap​ ​aimed to achieve sales of 200 billion yen, which is beyond our target of 100 billion yen in sales. The process of becoming a global company was outlined in detail, including expanding domestic market share, mergers and acquisitions, overseas expansion and strengthening administrative systems in preparation for an IPO. If we can form a strategic partnership with JAFCO, which has led more than 1,000 of its 4,000 investee companies to the IPOs, we will be able to achieve not only a 100 billion yen trading company, but also future growth. This was what I imagined from the content.

​ Mizutani Chairman Higashi, who is an experienced businessman, had probably already drawn a path to 100 billion yen in his head. If so, we thought we needed to present a vision that goes beyond that, and created it after internal discussions. JAFCO is a partner of entrepreneurs, so we simply proposed by saying "I think Fujitex is this kind of company," "I think this is the strong feature of Fujitex, and if we can develop this further, we can further increase the certainty of growth," and "We would like to proceed with these measures with this kind of schedule, along with the management team, officers and employees." In the end, I believe that this was instrumental in the decision-making that led to Fujitex being entrusted to us this time.

ーFrom the standpoint of an investment principal, what aspects of Fujitex made you feel the potential?

​ ​Mizutani While changing the focus business according to the era, sales and profits have continued to increase for the last 13 consecutive years, and performance is growing even in the corona crisis. When I first saw the numbers and changes in the business portfolio, I was frankly surprised. In addition, the profit margin is about twice that of other companies in the same industry. While maintaining stable transactions with existing customers, the number of new customers is steadily increasing every year, so it has established a stock-type business rather than a flow-type business. Over the course of Japan's long history, many have argued that trading companies are unnecessary and that trading companies are in decline. In such an environment, I believe that the company has consistently achieved overwhelming profit margins, proving the added value of a trading company.

On the other hand, I also felt that there was room for growth. The sales side was very strong, but the administrative aspect was yet to be developed. Further promotion of cross-selling utilizing data, expansion of business through M&A, and overseas expansion are also areas that we can address and lead to growth. I am convinced that if we strengthen these, it will create a good cycle because of its already strong offense.

Koike In recent years, the circular economy and ESG perspectives have been emphasized, but many companies do not know what to do specifically. Under such circumstances, Fujitex has already developed its business centered on the "environment", and one of its attractions is that it is very well suited to the times.

When I first met Mr. Ichimori and Mr. Shiotsuka, both of them said strongly that they wanted to raise the stage from small and medium-sized enterprise to large companies, and their attitude of trying to create a business while actually changing flexibly toward the realization of the 100 business concept was impressive. JAFCO also has a mission of "commit to the new business and jointly shape the future", so I felt that the direction of thinking was very similar. We believe that if Fujitex is looking in the same direction, we will be able to maximize synergies through our investment.

ーHaving become independent from the group through a capital tie-up, do you feel any difference in terms of your awareness and management?

Shiotsuka Originally, we were entrusted with authority by Chairman Higashi, so there haven't been many major changes since we became an independent company. Even now, when we are independent, I sometimes introduce group companies if they are useful to our customers, and I believe that we maintain good relationships with them.

However, since we started working with JAFCO the first thing they have done for us is to establish a business management system. What was previously a dependent on individual expertise was systematized at once, and I feel that has been a very positive change. JAFCO is also backing up career recruitment and sales alliances. At the first meeting after the capital tie-up, I was surprised when JAFCO came up with about 130 future tasks (laughs). By steadily completing these one by one, I feel that we are moving forward.

Strengthen both "offense" and "defense" to become a company with further growth

ーPlease tell us what you would like to work on together with JAFCO in the future.

Ichimori First of all, we would like to strengthen our "offense" by actively working to expand our business, including overseas expansion, and create a foundation for growth to achieve sales of 100 billion yen. In terms of "defense," the immediate task is to further strengthen the business management system, including the hiring of a CFO. Also, now that we have overcome the turmoil caused by the corona crisis, I think it is necessary to once again bring everyone's feelings together through offense and foster the vibrancy and momentum appropriate for a company that will grow in the future.

Strengthen both "offense" and "defense" and prepare well for the IPO first. We also aim to create an organization that is more resilient to change than ever before and evolve into a company that can continue to respond quickly to changes in the world.

​ ​Shiozuka In the post-corona era, where values are rapidly diversifying, I believe that it will become even more important to link the corporate philosophy and individual employee's purpose to make work more motivational, rewarding, and interesting. Therefore, for the last two years, we have been working to foster motivation for growth by setting not only quantitative goals but also qualitative goals for each employee and reflecting them in evaluations. This time, in order to make this initiative even more effective, we hired a mid-career personnel manager with the cooperation of JAFCO. Our future goal is to incorporate the specialized knowledge we have accumulated so far and update the personnel evaluation system, which will lead to the revitalization of the entire organization.

ーLastly, please tell us about your most important aspirations as the president.

Ichimori Our company's management vision is to "open up the future and create 100 businesses."

 I sincerely hope to realize our 100 business concept, continue to exist and develop for the next 50 to 100 years, and play an active role in society through our business. And there is a quote that is important in realizing the concept. Right after I joined the company, Chairman Higashi taught me this, and I still cherish it even now. Where there is a will, there is a way by Lincoln. No matter how good the plan, you will not succeed unless you have the strong will to accomplish it. Now that I'm at the top, I'm even more aware of these words, and when I'm having a difficult time or taking on new challenges, I remember these words and try to motivate myself. It's a quote that I want to cherish into the future.

Shiotsuka For me, it is the corporate philosophy of "We provide better products to our customers," which Chairman Higashi created when he founded Fujitex in his mid-twenties. As the times change, the products (products, services, information) that our customers need also change, and we as acompany have to evolve every day to respond and make lasting profits. Contributing to our customers and becoming an entity that is needed by society, the industry, and our customers will lead to the growth, motivation, and pride of each and every employee, and the organization will continue to develop. Everything necessary for a trading company is condensed into these simple word. No matter how much the scale of the company expands in the future, I would like to keep these words in mind at all times.

Comment from Principal: Taishi Mizutani, Shinya Koike​ ​​

The role expected of a trading company is changing and diversifying day by day, and we believe that it will probably change even more in 10 years than it does now. Trading companies that are always on the lookout for changes, are sensitive to changes, find and uncover markets that are likely to grow, and flexibly rearrange their products and services will survive, while trading companies that simply distribute the same products from right to left will be eliminated. We believe that only companies that understand the meaning of trading companies' intervention and combine goods, people and information to solve the problems of important customers and pursue optimal solutions will survive. Fujitex is a "group of merchants" that anticipates changes in the macro environment and customer trends, and creates new businesses one after another. Until now, it has developed businesses that match the times, centered on the "environment", but it also has the strength of being able to flexibly change as the market changes in the future. JAFCO will continue to promote M&A and overseas expansion, strengthen recruitment of human resources including executives, and continue to promote measures that will lead to the growth of Fujitex together with the management team, officers and employees.