Abstract
Infrastructure related/system sales recently launched by the Japanese government as a part of its growth strategies is a change in business strategy from a model that solely sells parts and machineries abroad, to the one that promotes the total coordination including engineering design, construction and operations. It is well known that overseas infrastructure operations, particularly those in emerging countries are potentially risky and exposed to government interventions. Furthermore, Japanese companies have been lagging behind US and European counterparts in this field. Against this backdrop, this paper seeks and verifies key success factors (KSFs) in this business, in the medium and long term framework, based on the premise that there are necessary diplomatic supports, technical know how, price competitiveness, operational know how and global human resource management skills. First, working hypotheses for KSFs were identified by earlier literatures, reports by international organizations, and previous works and projects. This was followed by a series of hearings conducted at 11 leading companies and organizations. Then clearer hypotheses for KSFs were articulated in a questionnaire, and sent to those interviewees. An English version of the questionnaire was also sent to overseas experts with long term experiences, to identify if there is clear difference of views between Japanese responses and overseas responses. The questionnaire consists of Part 1 of absolute grading for the hypotheses, corollaries, and alternative hypotheses under consideration, and of Part 2 of comparative assessment of 12 propositions in Part 1 as well as 3 factors presupposed in the above, so that their relative importance can be reviewed. In conclusion, it was confirmed that a proper recognition of basic characteristics of this sector and the assessment of risks and development effects are significant framework for KSFs, and that risk management skills before and after the project implementation are placed in higher positions than technology, price competitiveness, and global HR management. It was also identified that Japanese companies tend to put more emphasis on local partners and stand more ready to challenge high return projects than views of overseas experts.
