Page 46 - MYM 2016

Case Study: YKK Japan
to consumers and trading partners, thus bene ting all society. Tadao Yoshida called this the “Cycle of Goodness,” and he made this idea his fundamental philosophy of business.
Ever since YKK was founded in 1934, every person in the company has worked as a single unit to put this philosophy into practice. It is the spiri- tual backbone that supports all the business of the YKK Group. is is a practical philosophy, born through ironing out the challenges of quality, cost, and supplying overseas markets, and it expresses the corporate commitment to continue to prosper along with associated industries and society.
background
e YKK Group comprises of YKK Corporation (YKK), which makes fastening products, YKK AP Inc. (YKK AP), which manufactures architectural products, and the YKK Machinery and Engineer- ing Group, which provides support for integrated production to both businesses. ese three cores underpin the six-region global management struc- ture that composes the worldwide business of the YKK Group. Currently, it comprises 114 companies in 71 countries and regions: 24 companies in Japan and 90 overseas.
To best handle the characteristics of each region in our global business, the companies have been divided across six geographical blocs: North and Central America, South America, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa), China, Asia, and Japan. For FY 2015, the consolidated sales of the YKK Group were JPY 741.9 billion and operating pro t was JPY 69.1 billion. From sales of JPY 326.6 billion in the Fastening Products business, the oper- ating pro t was JPY 60.6 billion. Meanwhile, the AP business generated sales of JPY 408.2 billion and JPY 24.3 billion in operating pro t.
challenge for the fastening Products business: To Provide good Quality zippers to everyone
As mentioned, the Cycle of Goodness is the spiritual backbone that supports all of YKK Group’s business operations, and the Fastening Products business, which carries out the production and
sales of zippers and snap buttons, is one of its core businesses. Under its Fourth Medium-Term Man- agement Plan (FY 2013 – FY 2016), the Fastening Products Group adopted the following projected goal: New Growth Strategy – Towards Sales of Ten billion Zippers. is was the rst time YKK targeted
fig. 1: Ykk’s operating companies, along with some of the products they manufacture
46 | MINd YOUr MarkETING OCTOBEr 2016