For much of the twentieth century, engineering, sales, and quality products defined Japanese businesses and drove the country's economic success. Today, deflation, an aging population, and a series of weak economic reforms have dealt a devastating blow to the national economy.
Signs of a Japanese resurgence, however, are there for those who know what to look for. One such person is Robert E. Peterson. A marketing consultant, Peterson came to Japan in 1982 to help Toyota build its international marketing strategy. He never left.
Peterson notes marketing lacks a core function in the Japanese business model. Positions such as chief marketing officers (CMO) simply do not exist in the typical business. As such, even though Japan has a strong and positive brand image internationally, the nation's businesses lack the training to effectively market themselves to the international community.
Make It Happen! is both a challenge and primer to Japan's corporate culture. Peterson applies his experience, training, and outsider's eye to the problem of Japanese marketing, combining a thorough explanation of marketing basics with insights into how small to midsize businesses can develop their own marketing strategies to increas
About the Author:
Robert E. Peterson is president of the Wickaboag Consulting Group, a marketing communications consultancy that makes things happen. Peterson is highly regarded for his energy, willingness to take risks, curiosity, and entrepreneurial spirit.
A global client management and strategic planning executive with more than thirty‐eight years' experience, Peterson has worked with such illustrious companies as Procter & Gamble, Saatchi & Saatchi, Dentsu and Toyota Motor Corporation.
A graduate of Marietta College, Peterson was invited by the McDonough Leadership Center in 2006 to be an executive‐in‐residence. In 2013, he began lecturing and publishing articles about Japanese companies and marketing.
Peterson is married with two sons. He splits his time between his residences in Öta‐ku, Tokyo, Japan, and Lake Wickaboag, West Brookfield, Massachusetts, USA.
