FORUM

Hideo Takahashi
President
Sakata Seed Corporation
Japan
 

I have reached my 4th year as president of Sakata Seed Corporation. The world business environment has changed dramatically during this time.

If we could say it in one word, we would say that we have been “responding” to the business environment, both internally and externally.

The major points of change in the business environment that we have seen are:
 

1.	Increased consumer demands or needs – We must pick up on their needs as soon as possible, so we can develop the varieties they need and deliver superior seeds and seedlings with assurance and without delay. We cannot survive if we do not understand the importance of this, which is, so to speak, just a matter of common sense for any manufacturing company.
2.	A borderless world – Especially, China has gained power as a world factory and exports from China changed the global flow of products. This resulted in a borderless business for seed trade – commercial activity between countries has been remarkable. Fortunately, information technology has been developed to facilitate international trade.
3.	Bipolarization of the food market – A business opportunity for “Slow Food” has emerged. Slow food originated in Italy and changed into “Local Production and Local consumption” in Japan and now is a rage. Slow food is the opposite of "fast food". Fast food has gotten very popular. Slow food activists are trying to protect traditional food ingredients and food service. Also, they are trying to protect small growers who produce high quality products which are not suited for mass merchandising. This means that the food market does not only contract with the mass market, but also created a new market which supplies value-added products to the local tradition conscious consumer. Similar interests are emerging in the U.S for “real” or traditional foods.

From now on, Sakata is going to respond to sudden business changes like those above and make decisions, as soon as possible. We will quickly grasp key words like “Traceability”, “Food Safety” & “Earth’s Environment”. We think it is our company’s and our industry’s mission to supply seeds and seedling which respond to these key words. In other words, this is a big challenge for us all.

Honestly speaking, Sakata has been enjoying good business performance due to global prosperity, but I do not think all of our organization was the best one to accomplish our task as a global manufacturing company. As we have increased our overseas sales, starting with the introduction of All Double Petunia, we have emphasized overseas sales from the beginning. However, there are some areas where we cannot respond to rapid globalization. In order to meet these challenges, we will keep investing in our overseas businesses and strengthening our global organization. Our goal is to be a true multi-national seed company; to coexist with our seed dealers and to become the leading seed company to satisfy consumers in cooperation with growers. We will most definitely develop further research, production, and sales capability in our current “Four pillars” – Asia/Oceania, North America, South America, and Europe/Africa. In flowers, we purchased Daehnfeldt, Denmark last year and we will accelerate our globalization using this company.

We will soon present our new mid-term business plan to show us clear direction, both internally and externally. I believe we can attain our goals that I mentioned above, if we honestly pursue our motto, “Quality, Reliability and Service”. It is always our ultimate dream and unchanged truth that, around the world, we will always have people rich with our products no matter how the business environment will be changed.

Sakata Seed Corporation, headquartered in Yokohama, Japan became the first Japanese company to export seed and has since been actively involved in the development of new and improved plant varieties around the world. Sakata's worldwide activities have earned it a reputation for quality in over 130 countries. Today, the Sakata name has become one of the major international symbols of comprehensive customer support and products that meet diversified customer needs. Our broccoli and pansies, for example, maintain an overwhelming share of the global market and attest to our position as a formidable leader in the seed industry.

For additional information about Sakata Seed Corporation, please visit www.sakata.com