Over 100 years in business, a decision for change

Somic Group, a manufacturer of automotive dampers and suspension components, is seeking to create new businesses and expand overseas in parallel with the growth of existing businesses to achieve more stable and sustainable management. The Global Management Transformation Department, under the vice president's jurisdiction, employs members from five countries. Taking advantage of their strengths, we decided to implement a global bridge program to search for new business themes overseas. This was an attempt to create an opportunity to challenge human resources who are not steeped in existing businesses and who have a passion for solving problems in their home countries, in the belief that they can use their sensitivity to obtain hints for creating a new SOMIC.

Questions" and "awareness" generated by practice in Indonesia

Indonesia was chosen as the place to put it into practice. Since the company has a factory there, it has a good knowledge of the land, and two Indonesians are also employed in Japan. They participated in local community events such as Tech Planter and the Super Interdisciplinary Society of Japan to understand the startups' businesses and visited them to learn about real issues and business structures, and eventually created themes that became ideas for two new businesses. Although the members had MBA degrees and had knowledge of business creation, this was the first time for them to practically examine Somic's next business opportunity. It was difficult to build a compelling idea from a sense of specific issues and an understanding of the company's assets and strengths to build an idea for collaboration with a startup. In addition to individual passion, business creation is an activity that requires a bird's-eye view and understanding of one's own company, including its various priorities and impacts, and the cooperation of many people within the company. I believe that through this experience, we were able to realize this," said Osamu Suzuki, who is overseeing the project this time.

Hints for Overseas Expansion Strategies Seen Beyond the Challenge

The automobile industry has very high standards for quality, so people tend to question whether they can really realize their ideas based on the accuracy of the conception at the idea stage. I felt that this tends to act as a brake on internal cooperation and the deepening of ideas. Logic is also needed to explain within the company what business areas would fit and what kind of structure would be necessary. It is still an uncharted world, but we would like to gradually prepare our company's strategy as we gain experience. This trial has brought a new perspective to the company as well as to the development of its members, and has revealed the need for a strategy and environment necessary for new businesses, and for the creation of a system that can collaborate with existing divisions. Through the experience of promoting both "overseas business creation" and "human resource development," a new wind has begun to blow within the company.

(Text by Mariko Kanno)