Fusanori Iwasaki - Senior Research Associate, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia: ERIA
Yasushi Ueki - Economist, ERIA

This paper aims at understanding the current situation of how and why the Japanese Small and MediumSized Enterprise promote and manage the overseas expansion of its production bases in China andAssociation of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) through the in-depth case studies of Japanese appareland accessary industries. The so called ―Puls One‖ strategy is usually explained by the Economics,Sociology and Business administrations, such as Fragmentation Theory and the concept of GlobalValue Chain. However these perspectives are not enough to explain the dynamics of the SMEs‘ businessoptimization by forming supply chains. By introducing two cases about the Japanese apparel andaccessary industries, the authors clarify the several important elements for SMEs overseas expansions,including the Lead Time management, Proper Use of factories and sales side effects for the productionprocesses.

SMEs, Overseas expansion, sales side effects, multi-location multi-plant location