2023/03/14
Yano Research Institute and the Seibu Shinkin Bank Forged a Business Partnership; Bring Out the Potential of SMEs to Help Them Participate Successfully in the Market!
(The original article in Japanese was posted on February 10, 2023)
On February 8, Yano Research Institute (YANO) formed a business alliance*1 with the Seibu Shinkin Bank (Headquarter: Nakano-ku, Tokyo; President: Ichiro Takahashi) on YANO’s “Platform to Make Neglected Business Gemstones Shine” project. This is the business growth support service to be provided by YANO for various kinds of companies from start-ups to local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which we think are “business gemstones” having great potential in creation of new businesses. Information on markets, expertise on marketing, human networks, and trust that YANO owns will be utilized to support the companies to participate successfully in the markets. The project aims to revitalize local communities and industries through utilization and application of business and management resources that remain unused and support for creation of new businesses.
Our new business partner, the Seibu Shinkin Bank, also supports local economy constantly since 1969 when it started its business. It is one of the leading Shinkin banks and has a high loan-to-deposit rate of 67%. The bank supports its clients by being deeply involved in the management of the clients’ (loan recipients’) companies in various ways including business launch, sales channel development, and business restructuring. Particularly, the bank has an established reputation for the service of sending experts to the clients’ companies in cooperation with various professionals. Moreover, it also works on many unique and practical activities such as “Regional Future Project” where young employees mainly take part in, and “SEIBU LADY LINK,” which is an association for female successors of companies.
YANO has been working together with the Seibu Shinkin Bank for nine years from 2013 to 2022 as a board member of the “Nakano-ku Industrial Development Promotion Organization (ICTCO),” an industry-government-academia collaboration project of Nakano-ku.*2 What I noticed through the project activities was the vulnerability of a continuous management support system for start-ups and SMEs. From now on, we will be introduced companies that need our support among Seibu Shinkin Bank’s clients, and the three parties, namely, YANO, Seibu Shinkin Bank, and its client (a company that YANO is going to support), will discuss management strategies and support policies to achieve the business growth of the company to be supported. We are to obtain a reward for the business performance, and we hope to ensure the fruit of our future success to be shared among our partners through close cooperation and support for the company in need of our help.
On February 2, the government’s Financial System Council proposed establishment of“Security Interest for Business Growth,” which creates a security interest for various elements in the entire business including the company’s technological prowess and brands. The Financial Services Agency has been under consideration for preparing the bill within the fiscal year 2023 at the earliest. In addition to the lack of funds placed in high-risk and high-return investments, practices of lending in Japan that rely only on personal guarantees and real estate securities have been an obstacle to investment in starting a business and business growth. Therefore, the establishment of this system is very significant. Of course, reliable skill to assess the growth potential of intangible assets and businesses is required to operate this system properly. In this sense, we expect that this business partnership will contribute to the improvement of our own business assessment skill and enhancement of our business creation ability that should work as supporting evidence of the assessment skill. We are going to make constant efforts to chalk up a firm track record one by one.
This Week’s Focus, February 10, 2023
Takashi Mizukoshi, the President