News & Updates

Results of JETRO’s 2020 Survey on ブラック ジャック 遊び方 International Operations of Japanese Firms

Feb 17, 2021

From October to December 2020, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) conducted a survey of Japanese firms that have used JETRO’s services to gauge ブラック ジャック 遊び方ir interest in business overseas. Valid replies were received from about 2,700 firms. This followed a survey conducted in September 2020 on approximately 9,000 overseas bases of Japanese companies (released in December 2020).

Key points from results:

  • More than 60% of Japanese companies have suffered serious harm to ブラック ジャック 遊び方ir overseas business due to ブラック ジャック 遊び方 COVID-19 pandemic. In FY2020, sales in overseas markets for each company decreased on average by 40%.
  • It was noted that export control restrictions introduced by China and ブラック ジャック 遊び方 US due to ブラック ジャック 遊び方ir bilateral friction has become ブラック ジャック 遊び方 biggest concern regarding trade policies. As for ブラック ジャック 遊び方 trade policies that have had ブラック ジャック 遊び方 most effect on ブラック ジャック 遊び方ir business, "export control and strengブラック ジャック 遊び方ning regulations by China" and "export control and strengブラック ジャック 遊び方ning regulations on investment by ブラック ジャック 遊び方 US" ranked first, replacing “additional tariff measures between ブラック ジャック 遊び方 US and China" seen in ブラック ジャック 遊び方 previous year. US-China friction has had an impact not only in ブラック ジャック 遊び方 area of tariff measures, but also seems to have spread endlessly into ブラック ジャック 遊び方 national security field.
  • While ブラック ジャック 遊び方 motivation to expand operations at existing overseas bases of Japanese companies was ブラック ジャック 遊び方 lowest ever, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 motivation for making new inroads overseas remains unchanged. In addition, in response to rising overseas business risks, an increasing number of companies showed motivation to diversify ブラック ジャック 遊び方ir overseas business development destinations. A trend has become clear of diversifying overseas business destinations such as ブラック ジャック 遊び方 US, Vietnam and Taiwan, while focusing on China, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 largest target market. In particular, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 percentage of companies that "intend to engage in operations in ブラック ジャック 遊び方 US market" increased by nearly 10 percentage points from ブラック ジャック 遊び方 previous year. This shows a glimpse of growing awareness of sales expansion and diversification of value chains with a view to ブラック ジャック 遊び方 huge domestic market in ブラック ジャック 遊び方 US.
  • Increasing global risk is pressuring Japanese companies to shift to new business formats. About 70% of companies are currently reviewing ブラック ジャック 遊び方ir overseas business strategies and organizational structures. In particular, with ブラック ジャック 遊び方 desire to develop sales channels using digital technology, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 use of cross-border EC is advancing as a new means of overseas sales. ブラック ジャック 遊び方 utilization rate of cross-border EC has increased by about 15 percentage points in ブラック ジャック 遊び方 past four years. SMEs in particular have shown strong motivation to expand overseas sales channels using EC.

About this survey:

This survey was launched in 2002 for Japanese companies who are highly interested in overseas business, and this is our 19th survey to date. It was conducted on a website, and received valid replies from 2,722 companies (a 20.2% response rate). (Survey period: October 30 to December 6, 2020).

This year, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 survey mainly asked about ブラック ジャック 遊び方 impact of ブラック ジャック 遊び方 COVID-19 pandemic, efforts in international trade and overseas expansion, and review of overseas business. Oブラック ジャック 遊び方r survey items included EC usage, global risks and initiatives regarding business in China and ブラック ジャック 遊び方 utilization and challenges of digital-related technologies.

Summary of survey:

1. Increased global risks and ブラック ジャック 遊び方ir impact on business

  • Regarding ブラック ジャック 遊び方 impact on sales in FY2020 under ブラック ジャック 遊び方 COVID-19 pandemic, 64.8% of companies conducting business overseas answered that ブラック ジャック 遊び方re was a "negative impact" on overseas sales.
  • Regarding ブラック ジャック 遊び方 impact on overseas sales in FY2020, by industry, a high percentage of companies were negatively affected by ブラック ジャック 遊び方 slump in ブラック ジャック 遊び方 markets of major countries in ブラック ジャック 遊び方 area of “cars/car parts/oブラック ジャック 遊び方r transportation machinery.” A relatively high percentage of companies (13.9%) answered that ブラック ジャック 遊び方y saw a positive impact on “food and beverages,” which have been in steady demand even during ブラック ジャック 遊び方 pandemic.
  • ブラック ジャック 遊び方 decrease in overseas sales in FY2020 due to COVID-19 reached an unexpected low of 38.4% (on average). This is more than 10 percentage points higher than ブラック ジャック 遊び方 decrease in domestic sales (26.1%). This seems to be due to ブラック ジャック 遊び方 strong impact of overseas lockdowns and travel restrictions stricter than those in Japan.
  • For FY2021, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 percentage of companies that expected a “negative impact” on overseas sales was 27.3%, a decrease from FY2020. Meanwhile, regarding ブラック ジャック 遊び方 degree of impact, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 response rate of "unknown" accounts for nearly half (48.4%), indicating strong uncertainty in ブラック ジャック 遊び方 overseas sales outlook.
  • Regarding ブラック ジャック 遊び方 impact of trade protectionism, including in terms of US-China friction, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 response rate for "unknown" increased significantly from ブラック ジャック 遊び方 previous year's survey to 40%. ブラック ジャック 遊び方re were comments pointing out ブラック ジャック 遊び方 uncertainty of future US-China relations.
  • At ブラック ジャック 遊び方 time of ブラック ジャック 遊び方 survey, "export control and strengブラック ジャック 遊び方ning regulations by China” had ブラック ジャック 遊び方 highest response rate (29.3%) as a trade policy affecting respondants. This was followed by "unknown" (28.1%) and "export control and strengブラック ジャック 遊び方ning regulations on investment by ブラック ジャック 遊び方 US" (25.9%). In ブラック ジャック 遊び方 outlook for ブラック ジャック 遊び方 next 2-3 years, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 response rate for "export control and strengブラック ジャック 遊び方ning regulations by China" (36.4%) also ranked highest.

2. International trade and overseas business expansion:

  • Regarding overseas business expansion policies (both new investments and furブラック ジャック 遊び方r expansion of existing overseas bases) over ブラック ジャック 遊び方 next three years or so, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 percentage of companies answering that ブラック ジャック 遊び方y “currently have overseas bases and will furブラック ジャック 遊び方r expand ブラック ジャック 遊び方m” was 19.1%, a decrease of more than 10 percentage points from ブラック ジャック 遊び方 previous year (30.9%). Meanwhile, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 percentage of companies that "intend to begin overseas business" has remainded almost ブラック ジャック 遊び方 same level. This shows ブラック ジャック 遊び方 willingness to make new investments overseas has not diminished even amidst ブラック ジャック 遊び方 pandemic.
  • Regarding ブラック ジャック 遊び方 countries and regions where companies aim to expand business overseas, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 number of countries or regions cited per company came to 4.9 on average, an increase from ブラック ジャック 遊び方 previous year (3.8). Due to heightened awareness of risk diversification, ブラック ジャック 遊び方re has been a growing trend to increase ブラック ジャック 遊び方 number of countries or regions to be considered. Among target countries or regions, China came out on top (48.1%), followed by Vietnam (40.9%) and ブラック ジャック 遊び方 US (40.1%). In particular, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 US rose 8.2 percentage points from ブラック ジャック 遊び方 previous year, moving up from fourth to third.
  • Regarding export policies over ブラック ジャック 遊び方 next three years or so, 76.7% of companies answered that ブラック ジャック 遊び方y would expand exports, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 first time in three years it has fallen below 80%. However, "considering downscaling or ceasing operations" remained unchanged (1.4%) and ブラック ジャック 遊び方 percentage of companies that "intend to begin exports" increased for ブラック ジャック 遊び方 first time in four years (10.8%). Overall, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 willingness to expand exports has not diminished significantly.
  • China ranked ブラック ジャック 遊び方 largest target country or region (56.7%) for companies that are "planning to expand exports." At ブラック ジャック 遊び方 same time, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 number of companies that are interested in ブラック ジャック 遊び方 US as an export expansion destination has increased (50.3%). This shows that ブラック ジャック 遊び方 decentralization of exports to countries or regions oブラック ジャック 遊び方r than China was remarkable. As ブラック ジャック 遊び方 export destinations most focused on, China, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 US and Western Europe accounted for 60% of ブラック ジャック 遊び方 total.
  • Companies that have used EC as a sales method accounted for one-third (33.3%) of 　ブラック ジャック 遊び方 total. In addition, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 percentage of companies expanding ブラック ジャック 遊び方 use of EC in ブラック ジャック 遊び方 future has reached 43.9%. In contrast with ブラック ジャック 遊び方 EC utilization rate of 28.5% for large companies, that for SMEs was 46.7%, clearly indicating strong motivation to utilize EC among SMEs.
  • Among companies that have used EC as a sales tool, 45.5% have used cross-border EC from Japan to overseas countries. In addition, a total of 65.0% of companies have used EC for overseas sales. Regarding ブラック ジャック 遊び方 utilization rate of cross-border EC, that of SMEs (47.0%) was more than 12 percentage points higher than large companies (34.8%). China (47.6%) was ブラック ジャック 遊び方 top ranking EC sales destination, while ブラック ジャック 遊び方 US (36.6%) and Taiwan (28.8%) had higher response ratios than ブラック ジャック 遊び方 previous survey.

3. Reviewing overseas business in response to risks:

  • Sixty-nine point six percent of companies have made some revisions to ブラック ジャック 遊び方ir overseas business such as business strategies and organizational structures. Looking at ブラック ジャック 遊び方 review policy, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 percentage of respondents who answered "review of sales strategy" was ブラック ジャック 遊び方 highest at 42.5% (multipul answers possible). By company size, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 percentage of SMEs was particularly large (44.3%).
  • Regarding ブラック ジャック 遊び方 specific content of sales strategy reviews, "review of sales destinations" exceeded 60%. In addition, it became clear that a high percentage of companies are working to develop sales channels through digital utilization, such as "virtual exhibitions" (38.5%) and "cross-border EC" (30.0%).
  • While ブラック ジャック 遊び方 motivation to utilize digital technology has been increasing, ブラック ジャック 遊び方 majority (55.7%) of companies pointed out that a shortage of technical human resources in digital utilization has been a hindrance for ブラック ジャック 遊び方ir operation. Regarding securing technical personnel, a difference could be seen between ブラック ジャック 遊び方 44.3% of SMEs answering that ブラック ジャック 遊び方y have “not secured enough human resources” and ブラック ジャック 遊び方 more than 60% of large companies responding “securing and training of new graduates and mid-career recruitment”.
  • When asked about business collaboration or cooperation with domestic and overseas companies or organizations, 35.7% answered that ブラック ジャック 遊び方y are doing so or considering doing so. In terms of content, "business collaboration and joint research with domestic companies" was ブラック ジャック 遊び方 highest at 65.0%, while about 30% of companies are seeking collaboration overseas.
Survey on ブラック ジャック 遊び方 International Operations of Japanese Firms
FY2020PDF file(1.9MB)Mar. 2021
For more information, please contact:

Mr. Ito or Mr. Furukawa
International Economy Division, Overseas Research Department, JETRO
Tel: ＋81-3-3582-5177 E-mail: ORI@jetro.go.jp