Mr. Muneer Alam [Part2]
Continuing our interview with Mr. Muneer Alam, Chief Executive, Japan Branches, Bank of India, we are going to ask about life in Japan.
Regarding Life in Japan
Reason for coming to Japan and first impression about Japan.
Before coming to Japan, I was in Hong Kong for five years. I came to Japan on deputation for Bank of India almost a year ago. My initial impression about Japan was that it has great infrastructure but not a very visitor friendly country.
Comparison between Hong Kong with Japan.
It won't be fair to compare Hong Kong with Japan. In my opinion Hong Kong is more dynamic. You can sense liveliness on the streets of HK. For doing business also, Hong Kong is better than Japan. You get good support from the government also for doing business in Hong Kong. You can literally set up a business in Hong Kong in 7 days. Also, compared to Japan, Hong Kong is a much more visitor friendly country. If my knowledge is correct, Hong Kong has more visitors every year than its actual population.
On the flip side, Japanese people are very polite. If you bargain too much on the streets of Hong Kong, the shopkeeper might shout back at you. This doesn't happen in Japan.
In Japan people value qualities like long term relationships and mutual trust.
Also the infrastructure of Japan is fantastic.
What is convenient in Japan?
As I told before also, the infrastructure is great in Japan. They have a well laid out system for everything. Everything works fine here. All the basic services are easily available. All these things make our daily lives very easy.
What is inconvenient in Japan?
In my opinion the biggest inconvenience is language barrier. We still don't find many sign boards in English. Most of the information is mostly in Japanese which makes it very inconvenient sometimes. I bought a humidifier the other day but the operation manual was only in Japanese. Hence I had to guess how it works. Also, a lot of tourist materials are in Japanese only which prevents us from knowing more about Japan.
What is the key to being successful in India?
I think that identifying the right sectors and finding good partners is the key for succeeding in the Indian market. India presents a lot of opportunity for companies looking to do business. My advice would be to spend more time in India and know the market/people/culture. Once we spend more time, we slowly build confidence in the market and all our fears are eliminated. If we look at the Suzuki story, we will get all the answer. How Suzuki overcame all skepticism about India and went on to be a huge success is now a legend.
Advice for Japanese companies looking to enter into the Indian market.
My advice to such companies would be to adapt to the Indian style of working.
Indian companies doing business in Japan try to adapt to the Japanese way.
India is not as bad as it is often projected. We have a sound legal system, a good banking sector, ample of good human resource and basic infrastructure for doing better.
We are much better placed then some of the African countries and to an extent even China. We should take courage from the fact that people are doing business in worse places. The shadow of ghost is more fearful than the ghost itself. Once you overcome that fear, India opens numerous doors of opportunities for businessman.
Word of advice for Indian community living in Japan.
It would be great if the Indians living in Japan could tell Japanese people that India is much more than pollution and poor infrastructure. The image of India can only be changed if people not only talk about their bad experiences but also tell them the good stories. Once this happens, more and more Japanese companies and Japanese people can gain in confidence. Companies like Geomanage should also play a role in presenting a complete picture of India to Japanese people.
Link：Japan Branches, Bank of India
Relation：Atul Lokurkar（from GeoManage）