Is Southeast Asia becoming the number one manufacturing base in the world? Factory Solution No.1 marketer, Kenichiro Fujii , answer this question.
It has been a long time since Southeast Asia has been called the “next market”, which will have 600 million middle classes. We have been expanding our business in this region following China, but through my stationed experiences, I consider as follows.
- In every country, some wealthy people (mostly Chinese) dominate wealth
- Every country is still subcontractor of developed countries in the manufacturing industry
- It has been a long time since AEC was established, but there are few economic benefits like the EU.
- B to C business is bright due to population growth and many young people, but what about B to B?
- It became clear in Myanmar, many countries still have high geopolitical risk.
In the case of our products, we have prioritized marketing from countries where GDP per capita exceeds $ 5,000.
Its results and my reviews;
- Thailand
I expected much for Japanese companies in Thailand, but they are still behind in terms of systemization. - Indonesia
Even in Indonesia, which has the largest population, domestic sales of Japanese cars are stagnant, and when it comes to exports, product quality is poor and it is not enough to cover domestic demand. - Vietnam
Vietnam is certainly a country where Japanese manufacturing companies are expanding, but there are many factories that are full of product manufacturing and have no control over system management. - Singapore
Singapore has few manufacturing industries, and the Philippines has a different business model (mainly overseas migrant workers) - Malaysia
Malaysia is also trapped in middle-income countries, and domestic-oriented policies are hindering the entry of overseas companies.
Now that under the influence of Corona, these countries, with the exception of the rich Singapore, have not been well vaccinated and their medical systems are fragile, so when can they get out of the corona wreck?
So, the Southeast Asian market can’t be really boom?
I have also been stationed with Thailand and Indonesia, saying that I can expect the development of the Japanese manufacturing industry in this region next China (Vietnam, I got out by Corona). I used to look at ASEAN as a whole, but now it’s different.
I think that investment should be made by carefully watching the market conditions of each country. As a result, it may take another 5 years (10 years in Corona?), But we assume that the economy of ASEAN as a whole will grow to a certain stage.
However, as far as the reality of the EU, such as Germany, which is developing economically, and Greece, which has no choice but to parasite to other countries, the situation would be similar in ASEAN.
However, as of the end of December 2021, the brightness is likely to return in 2022, considering the status of each agency’s prospects.
So which country will be the economic leader in ASEAN in the future? Boldly predicting it will depend on which country can absorb China’s power in the next five years?
I think that the expansion of Japanese manufacturing factories to ASEAN has already reached its limit. As mentioned above, in ASEAN, there are Chinese conglomerates who can accept the entry of Chinese companies.
This cannot be said to be the case due to the effects of the U.S.-China hegemony war and the increase in domestic debt of China itself, but it is not one of the leading stories in the future of some Southeast Asian markets. I think.
Even in system development, agile development methods are currently being touted instead of the conventional water flow type.
In a world where future predictions are difficult, it is essential to develop measures based on some assumptions and be prepared to change policies quickly in response to changing circumstances.
Plan B India Strategy is prepared for our ASEAN A plan. It is expected that one country will have a population larger than that of China in the future, and it is predicted that it will overtake Japan in five years to become the world’s third-largest GDP-developed country.
Based on my scenario of per capita GDP of $ 5,000 market threshold, it will take at least 5 years to establish a market for production schedulers and develop local distributors, so we are working from now on.