100 Stories1972 Paving the Way for Globalization - “Asahi Kasei International”

Since its founding, Asahi Kasei has contributed to ‘life’ and ‘living.’ With production, sales, and R&D bases in more than 20 countries around the world, Asahi Kasei is well positioned to meet a wide range of needs in the global marketplace.

In recent years, overseas sales have accounted for more than 50% of total sales in the materials area, where environmentally friendly, high value-added materials and products are developed, and in the healthcare area, where human lives are saved. In the real estate field, the company’s percentage of sales in Australia and North America is also increasing. The company is also actively pursuing mergers and acquisitions (M&A) with overseas companies to promote global expansion.

Globalization was triggered in the 1970s. This was a time when the term “internationalized society” was becoming common in Japan and large companies were beginning to focus on overseas business. At Asahi Kasei, too, every division was considering overseas expansion, but each division had its hands full with domestic measures. There were also limits to how far divisions could go in their overseas expansion efforts, so plans did not go as far as expected.

Therefore, Asahi Kasei established a company to export technology and plants. The result was Asahi Kasei International, a company that brought together members with extensive experience in overseas business.

The members of the company were fluent in English, German, Russian, and other languages, and spoke the languages of the various countries in which Asahi Kasei was aiming to expand. The establishment of a company specializing in overseas business was a pioneering move, and attracted attention within the industry as being at the forefront of the times.

“Asahi Kasei is far behind Toray and Teijin in overseas capital investment. We are going to make up for this in one fell swoop.”

The globalization of Asahi Kasei began with these strong words spoken by Masatoshi Kura, who was appointed president of Asahi Kasei International. Under the slogan “Catch up with Toray and Teijin,” the company pledged to grow its business by inspiring each other and its employees, led by Kura, who demonstrated outstanding leadership.

The first step in full-scale overseas expansion was the establishment of a local subsidiary in Indonesia, Indonesia Asahi Industries. The company began operations with the aim of producing 12 tons of domestically produced nylon and spinning 20 tons of Cashmilon. As Kura said, “We will establish a foothold for our overseas business in Indonesia;” this was an important first step toward Asahi Kasei's globalization.

The company continued to make steady progress with plans to expand into Brazil, Iran, South Korea, and other countries. Asahi Kasei International, with its many accomplishments, continued to play a major role in supporting Asahi Kasei's rapid progress toward becoming a global company until its role came to an end in 2000.

In an era when overseas markets were still undeveloped, Asahi Kasei International was an elite group of highly motivated individuals who paved the way for a wide range of overseas markets. This passion is still carried on today by Asahi Kasei employees around the world.