iPark Osaka boosting PR activities for Korean firms advancing into Japanese market By Kim Bok-young, chief executive director of the iPark Osaka iPark Osaka, a gateway for Korean IT enterprises to west Japan, is actively promoting various projects to help domestic IT companies advance into the Japanese market successfully. Among the projects of iPark Osaka are intensive marketing and service assistance, public relations (PR) activities and international cooperation for Dynamic U-Korea, and offering of market information. Firstly, it is bolstering PR activities of Korean IT companies for local opinion leaders through online and offline to build a firm foothold for domestic IT firms to advance into the Japanese market. Related to this, it is building a close cooperation network with local government agencies, provincial governments, IT-related associations and organizations through seminars and consultations. Kim said that the most important priorities for Korean IT companies to successfully enter the Japanese market are securing business and marketing manpower and construction of local market channels and partners. Promising vs. Potential Markets In line with this, iPark Osaka classifies the local market into a promising market and a potential market after analyzing the characteristics of the market and finds out excellent market channels and partners to let them link with Korean enterprises. For instance, in the promising market, including security sector, it holds marketing promotion channel seminars and consultation meetings to accelerate Korean IT companies' advancement into the Japanese market. Furthermore, it is also seeking ways to conclude strategic alliances between Korean and Japanese enterprises through IT forums or one-on-one investment attraction consultation meetings. It is also placing emphasis on information exchanges with Korean companies that already attained tangible fruits from their advancement into the Japanese market. Strategies for 2006 In 2006, iPark Osaka plans to pursue concentrated and differentiated strategies to produce a success model in the IT sector. First of all, it places the target on the solution sector, including security whose needs are high in Japan, and the digital contents sector, including mobile contents and solution. In the sectors, it will accelerate business cooperation between Korean IT companies and excellent market channels & partners in Japan. It also plans to push for joint development and business alliance projects between Korean and Japanese companies by making the best use of local funds. In the SI (System Integration) field, the so-called opportunity market, it plans to stage target marketing activities centering on provincial governments in Japan through partnership alliance with local SI enterprises. Along with this, IPark Osaka has a plan to push for the business supporting Korean IT engineers' advancement into Japan and development of offshore business. At present, Japan suffers from shortage of manpower in the software sector. Through close cooperation with Japanese institutions and enterprises, accordingly, we plan to accelerate Korean IT engineers' advancement into Japan and lead it to offshore business through enhancement of confidence. In the meantime, it plans to hold various seminars and forums for local opinion leaders to publicize superiority of Korea's IT industry, including WiBro and DMB, and enhance brand image of Korean IT companies. Japan changing rapidly both politically and economically. It aims at becoming a frontrunner within 2010 in the IT field, while pushing for aggressive policies and technology development in manufacturing, basic material and parts industries. According to the Nomura Research institute, the Japanese IT market will see a rapid development from 3.1 trillion yen in 2005 to 4.4 trillion yen in broadband, from 800 billion yen to 2.3 trillion yen in mobile solution & contents, from 85 billion yen to 237 billion yen in online game, and from 27.5 billion yen to 120.7 billion yen in RFID. In keeping with the rapid development of the Japanese IT market, iPark Osaka will extend active supports to Korean small and medium-sized IT companies, which are willing to advance into the Japanese market.