The 22^th Regular Seminar

The University Of Kitakyushu
Center for Chinese Business Studies

 The Asian Regional Cooperation Department of the Institute for Regional Strategy

Theme：Regional Revitalization after COVID-19～Based on my Practical Experience in Developing Sports Business

Speaker：Mr. Yutaka AGAWA

Commentator：Takeharu SAKAMOTO
Date：November 26th, 2022 (Saturday)
Place：Frankie Wu International Exchange Hall

 The 22nd regular seminar was held on November 26 at the Frankie Wu International Exchange Hall, 2nd Floor of Kousei Kaikan, in the Northern Campus of the University of Kitakyushu. Mr. Yutaka AGAWA, former Vice President of AEON China and former General Manager of AEON Retail Sposium, gave us a lecture on the topic of “Regional Revitalization after COVID-19～Based on my Practical Experience in Developing Sports Business”.

 This was the fifth seminar jointly hosted by Center for Chinese Business Studies and The Asian Regional Cooperation Department of the Institute for Regional Strategy (formerly The Center for Cultural And Social Studies of Asia), with Takeharu SAKAMOTO, Associate Professor of the Center for Fundamental Education (also a researcher at the Institute for Regional Strategy) as the commentator.

 Mr. Yukata AGAWA has been the representative of AEON in Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and other overseas subsidiaries. He has been deeply involved in developing business in the Asian market for more than 20 years and has always maintained close relationship with the region and contributed to regional revitalization, both in Japan and overseas, and has extensive experience in Asian business.

 His presentation focused on the lessons he learned from his experience in developing complex sports business in the region and overcoming failures after returning to AEON’s head office in Japan. First, the Aerial Yoga business that he started immediately after his return to Japan failed. In order to take on the challenge again, he focused his efforts on “thoroughly investigating growing companies”, using the basic methods of marketing strategies such as SWOT analysis, 3C analysis and 4P analysis, and by taking a customer-oriented, market-in approach. He finally turned the business into a success. Mr. AGAWA emphasized that the social environment has changed a lot due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including (1) the income of middle-income tiers decreased; (2) a shift in consumer goods from products to services; (3) a change in consumer values; and (4) while recreational sports are declining, outdoor sports that do not require equipment are increasing, and the younger generation is becoming more involved. In light of this, Mr. AGAWA was convinced that the sports industry is one of the few growth segments and has successfully commercialized their sportswear and walking sports business utilizing AEON malls in various regions.

 At the end of his speech, Mr. AGAWA stressed the relationship between regional revitalization and global exchange and the importance of global human resource development. He also shared with the participants the following points: (1) the environment surrounding Japanese business people is changing drastically, and regional revitalization also needs to be linked to Asia from a global perspective; (2) The Japanese qualities such as “hard-working” “honesty” “modesty” and “high ethical standards” are powerful weapons, especially when promoting exchange with the Asia area, which is experiencing sustained growth; (3) “Work is done by human network” “Japan moves because of organizations, but Asia moves because of trusting relationships between individuals,” etc.

 Associate Prof. SAKAMOTO, who served as the commentator, analyzed the similarities between customer-oriented corporate business and social welfare business from the perspective of educational research on regional revitalization as a non-profit social worker; in the Q&A session, many questions were raised by the seminar participants, especially about the experiences in Asian business and the future direction, and Mr. AGAWA gave detailed answers to each question. As always, this regular seminar was successful and fruitful.

Prof. Keisuke YAO, Director of the Asian Regional Cooperation Department of the Institute for Regional Strategy delivered an opening remarks

Prof. Kazunari KUDO,Dean of the K2BS， delivered an opening remarks

Speech Scene of Mr. Yutaka AGAWA

Comment scene of Associate Professor Takeharu SAKAMOTO

Question-and-answer session①

Question-and-answer session②

Prof. WANG Xiao-ping,Director of CCBS, summed up the seminar with closing remarks.

Scene during the speech