William Rosser

Case Study: Selling the Walk Car Your name is Kazu Moritomo, you are the senior executive salesman for Coco Motors, a startup electric vehicle company that is currently trying to sell its flagship product, the Walk Car, overseas in the United States. Since you are the only staff member in the company that speaks English, you have been given the assignment to try and communicate with different American companies in order to begin trade partnerships. You have never done anything like this before, and all of your business practices and experience have been solely in Japan. You are sitting in your office, which is on the twentieth floor of a large office building in Yokohama, Japan, and look over the list of potential contacts posted on the piece of paper on your desk. Each contact person has their company name, specialty, phone number, and email address next to it. You are very nervous and are confused on where to begin. (See question 1 on your discussion worksheet and answer it before moving on) Things to Consider: Japan businessmen are very “old school” when it comes to how they conduct themselves. They prefer phone conversations over email messaging, long business deals with very polite conversations, and are usually willing to go the extra mile to make sure their potential partners are extremely happy with a deal. Kazu Moritomo is no different than this, and his personality and business practices match this exactly as stated. (See question 2 on your discussion worksheet and answer it before moving on) The Walk Car, as detailed on the Cocoa Motor website, is a specialized, compact electric vehicle that is most useful in very urban environments. It is meant for short distance travel and a is obviously not very driveable in the rain or in the cold. It is a perfect device for Japanese cities, where roads are congested with cars and trucks, millions of people flood trains and subway stations, and where riding a bicycle or walking are the most common forms of transportation. Gasoline in Japan is much more expensive than in the United States, and is currently roughly $4.50 a gallon (as of January, 2021). Electricity, on the other hand, is cheap and plentiful, and since the Walk Car is mainly used in large cities in japan, it is pretty easy to find an outlet to charge it at for the 30-60 minutes it takes to reach a full charge before its next use. At the beginning of 2021 there is still a global pandemic to consider, which means that many people are deciding to do much of their shopping online instead of going into an actual store. Japanese businesses, while they understand the usefulness of the internet for business, are still very much fixated on using in-person store front and product demonstrations to sell their items. (See question 3 on the discussion worksheet and answer it before moving on) Overseas shipping is a critical issue that will need to be addressed in this case; shipping times from Asia specifically to the USA are much longer than normal and can take anywhere from 3-4 weeks to reach their destination if products are not confiscated by customs when they arrive in America. Cocoa Motors and Kazu Moritomo must find a solution to this problem, which might cause a huge issue with selling in the American marketplace. You need to look at the official Walk Car website and decide how it can be beneficial for forming relationships in the United States. Since many American businesses will not be able to come to Japan to meet with Kazu in person the only way they can really understand the product or the company in general is if they visit the website and understand it. This website will then become the official “face” of the company and also the Walk Car as business talks begin. (Complete the remainder of the questions now and prepare to answer them tomorrow during class time)