Why is Yakult Lady System effective in emerging counties?

A view from institutional voids

Abstract

This study examined why the Yakult's specific marketing method " Yakult lady system " is effective in developing the emerging markets. Yakult, a Japanese beverage maker, established a unique marketing method called Yakult lady system in Japan during 20's century, then it has utilized that system in emerging markets and has obtained stable market shares in more than ten emerging countries. Previous studies have revealed that the Yakult lady system is consistent to the philosophy of sustainable development, such as poverty alleviation and improving the social status of women, and there emerged several followers using this system such as Hindustan Lever and Grameen Danone, to realize social business for sustainable development. However, sufficient research has not been done on the reason why the Yakult lady system is effectively acquiring the markets of emerging countries. Because Yakult succeeded in more than a dozen emerging countries worldwide, it is natural to think that there exists a sort of competitive rational mechanism that meets the environments unique to emerging countries. Using the theoretical framework of institutional voids, this paper revealed that the Yakult lady system can effectively acquire the market because it works as a mean to fill in several institutional voids.