One of the success factors I often point out for overseas tech solutions in the Japanese market is when the top management of the tech partner truly commits to Japan. Recently, I had an experience that made me reflect deeply on this, and I’d like to share my thoughts in a blog post.

When you hear “commitment from the top,” what kind of commitment comes to mind? It might mean allocating internal resources properly to the target market, or maintaining a high level of internal priority for that market. Personally, I define “commitment from the top” as (response speed) × (speed of discussion, agreement, and execution process).

The speed of response shows that, despite having many people to communicate with, the top is placing a high priority on the Japanese market. And the speed of discussion, agreement, and execution means communicating with all relevant internal departments and moving quickly into action—a process that is extremely demanding but still carried out.

Based on this definition, I feel that James from MerchantSpring is a rare tech partner who demonstrates a level of top commitment I’ve never encountered before. Even during the long period after entering Japan when monetization in the market was difficult, he proactively proposed approaches that could lead to monetization. When product requests or issues were raised, he responded quickly within the same day, engaged in casual discussions, and drove them at an incredible pace all the way to agreement and execution. Of course, documentation of information and know-how has taken more time due to differences in business culture, but in terms of both response speed and execution process speed, I feel daily that he stands out overwhelmingly.

Thanks to this, we’ve been able to casually discuss and shape requests specific to the Japanese market, which has led to a surge of inquiries at an amazing pace. Since we also have a large volume of data to translate, we plan to complete all translations within the year and further accelerate MerchantSpring’s business in Japan next year. If you’re interested, please feel free to reach out!

Masaki “Mark” Iino
Founder & CEO
SOPHOLA, Inc