Abstract

First of all, this case overviews the current situation of the “Eikaiwa” English conversation business privately operated in Japan. This case identifies the real problem on why most of the foreign language business in Japan cannot survive in a long run. In addition, the case also summarize the possible strategy to consider on how to build a successful start-up business in Japan. The study will focus on a start-up company named Second Family English School who entered Nagoya in early 2015. A company that recovered from bankruptcy and now being pushed to the limit by focusing on operation strategy, additional services and partnership. In recent years, there’s a lot of foreign investors who wants to build a business in Japan and for them Eikaiwa is one of the most easiest and fastest to build, and also you don't need big capital to start this kind of company in the Japanese market. Another reason is most Japanese are poor communicators in foreign languages. They rank low in international English proficiency tests. In 2002, foreign language instruction in Japan was a 670 billion yen industry, of which the five largest chains (Nova, GEOS, ECC, Aeon, and Berlitz) accounted for 25% of market share. In the mid 2000’s a lot of Eikaiwa business in Japan was built because of the Japanese demand and also many Eikawa business collapsed due to the increase number of competition and decreasing number of students. Most of the Eikaiwa Company cannot sustain because they are lack of strategy and lack of long term vision. Just like SFE Company when they were in Osaka. A company who only focus on one service especially in this industry cannot survive in a long run because most of the Japanese students prefer to study in a big and well known English schools.

Detailed information