What's happening in Japan?

A short follow-up on last week's post regarding market data for the first half of the year.

Historically a major contributor to the outsourcing market in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan has seen a marked slowdown in the last 12 months with respect to deals with a total contract value of US$25 million or more.

Anecdotal evidence does not suggest that there are large numbers of unreported deals within that range, so either the deals in Japan have become smaller and therefore don't make the threshold, or activity has actually slowed for a while.

My hypothesis is that, consistent with the general trend of reduced sourcing activity in times of economic uncertainty, Japan has been in a recent period of economic uncertainty resulting in the trend we have seen.

Anecdotal evidence also suggests that the uncertainty has given way to acceptance of the current macro economic climate, and that we are likely to see a pickup in sourcing activity over the next 12 to 18 months.

Is that a bold prediction to be challenged?

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2009

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• The Internet as the medium
• May the new year bring good tech-ings
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• Reflections of an eternal optimist
• Thanks for a great 2008

Michael Rehkopf

Michael has more than 20 years of experience in operations, strategy and sourcing covering all major parts of the globe. He has also worked for Australian, Canadian, German and Japanese companies in both business process outsourcing and IT outsourcing.
Michael's industry experience includes the financial services, manufacturing, telecommunications and travel sectors. He leverages this diverse industry experience and his university background in accounting, IT and his Master of Dispute Resolution, to assist clients in the development of business strategies and the implementation of sourcing strategies. These include the associated evaluation, negotiation and organizational change.
Michael is currently a partner at TPI, the world's oldest and largest sourcing advisory firm. Prior to joining TPI, Michael held leadership positions with Siemens Business Services, OpenPlus International, Mitsubishi Electric and Netron.