As a supervisor for Eiken Chemical's flagship line of products related to fecal occult blood testing, I conduct product development and improvement targeted to international markets. People tend to think of research as a solitary field of work, but teamwork is actually important for things like discussion of problems. For this reason, I work together with my colleagues in the same division on activities with the goal of "creating products with a higher level of quality."

In China, I conduct sales support for our business partners. I was born in China, and I hear stories from people who got testing done with Eiken products there that were saved when cancer was detected in the early stages, so I have a keen sense that my work is helping people here in my homeland. The other day, I was really happy when I heard from my mother and a friend of mine that Eiken products are being used at a local hospital.

That's great to hear. It makes me happy, too. In 2018, I was transferred from domestic sales to the Foreign Business Office, and I'm currently supervising Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East. Since factors like linguistic and cultural differences play a role in overseas sales, communication is a struggle, but our clients frequently praise our products, saying things like, "Amazing!" So I'm aware of the high level of quality our company provides, and I take pride in my work.

The Quality Assurance Department where I work exists for the sole purpose of maintaining that quality. Through efforts such as thorough confirmation of procedures and rules from a global perspective, we check each and every step in production, and I feel a sense of responsibility for an important part of the product manufacturing process as I work.

I am stationed in the Accounting Department, and my work is involved with back office globalization. Since the other employees here today are people I don't get to see in my regular work, I'm hoping to hear lots of details about what all of you do.

I chose I will overcome standards. Since I started working overseas, I realized that the things people take for granted in Japan aren't necessarily a given overseas. Just because a product is selling well in Japan doesn't mean it will be accepted in other markets all over the world. Precisely because the environments and cultures are different in other countries, those of us in the field must extract the needs of each country and work harder to promote the development of products targeted to these needs.

I feel the same way. The sentence I chose is I will overcome national borders. I don't mean actually stepping foot in the different countries. Instead, I think we should go beyond the concept of countries in our way of thinking. I think we all need to conduct our work with multiple mindsets, maintaining sensitivity to what the local people think and want.

In different countries, the account standards are different as well. My choice was I will overcome walls, and I think that if the front office is working with overseas markets in mind, those of us in the back office need to support that by widening our field of view as well. I want to learn the various rules for executing a contract in different countries and change alongside the other staff working on foreign business.

I think this may be a time when the company as a whole is changing. Our current flagship products are merely accepted by large numbers of people right now, nothing more. It's true that they're exceptional products, but I think we need to keep our eyes turned to the future and avoid getting caught up in what we have now, instead creating what the next generation needs. To express this idea, I chose the following statement. I will overcome tradition.

One of my seniors often says, "You can't stay in your comfort zone." It's comfortable to stick to defined rules and traditions. But you can't find growth that way. Growth requires you to get outside of your comfort zone and change yourself.

That's right. I chose I will overcome the era for my statement. As the others have mentioned, the past achievements of this company are the work of our predecessors. We ourselves have not yet accomplished anything at all. I think we should all take this as an opportunity and start working to create a new era together.

Although we gathered together from different divisions, all of us had the same feeling of "we need to change" in common.

That's reassuring. I hope the company as a whole can develop the same "let's make a change" atmosphere.

In foreign markets, it's frequently the case that products that are popular in Japan don't meet client's needs. To expand our sales in global market, finding a way to solve this problem is crucial. Regarding this point, what I think those of us working in overseas sales can do is share information from local areas among other members of our company in a more timely fashion, ensuring it is applied to research with greater speed.

Speedy provision of information is something those of us in the research labs really appreciate. Unfortunately however, as for whether we can make immediate design changes to support that information, that's a bit difficult... Research takes time, so for example, research that's ongoing right now might lead to a product launch three years from now. That's why it's so important to predict future developments when forming opinions.

If we can make predictions of what kind of products will be in demand within the market based on present conditions and expected developments in the next few years, we can launch products that will meet the needs of future eras.

That's right. If someone says, "Please add this function as well," it's hard to make those changes in the middle of a research project.

I see. In China, policies sometimes change suddenly as well. For precisely this reason, we have to pay attention to trends in not only the industry but also the government. "Acquiring the ability to make predictions about the era." I've discovered a new task to work on.

The accounting rules vary from one country to another, but do the rules and standards for products also vary?

Yes, they do. To be more specific, there are various size settings, and different countries have their own rules about that.

Putting those together one by one is a difficult task.

Exactly. For precisely that reason, we need to develop new products. If it were possible to make a single product that could be used all over the world, that would be such an incredible achievement. But as Mr. Kanemoto and Ms. Cao mentioned, needs differ between areas. In that case, the question is can we introduce a product with some customization for easily handling of the needs of any country? This is a task that those of us in the research laboratories are currently considering.

The key to products is the minimum customizability for applications in the maximum number of places.

While clearing that hurdle, I also want to think carefully about usability.

New products really are overcoming traditions. I can't wait to see them.

This is something participating in this round-table discussion has made me realize once again. I want to know more about what other employees in our company are working on. I learned a lot of new things today, and I think it would be great if we could all share information within our company more actively on a regular basis.

It might be better if we rotated personnel more often. When you're in the same position for a long time like me, although that does allow you to accumulate specialized knowledge, you don't really know much else. For example, even if I can say something qualitative as an accounting supervisor, I don't have any sense of the background factors of those numbers. I think it would strengthen our organization if there were more people who could understand things like that.

I think strengthening the information transmission within the company is a really good thing. Rapid handling is crucial for promoting globalization. If we can strengthen our connections as an organization free of lost time, I think we'll be able to improve globalization on our own as well.

For me as well, I want to learn information from various other divisions and make sure my values don't get fixed in place.

After listening to what everyone had to say at today's round-table discussion, I think that as the front-end divisions accelerate their work toward globalization, those of us supporting them must change as well.

I also realized once again that it's important to create new value and avoid getting attached to the present and resting on our laurels.

I want to remember the sense of teamwork I felt during today's round-table discussion and retain that unity while achieving new growth.