How the JMEC Program Works

The Japan Market Expansion Competition (JMEC) is a professional development program geared towards business in Japan and the process of writing a business plan for the Japanese market. Concurrently, JMEC is designed to foster the development of foreign businesses which are considering entering or expanding within the Japanese market.

Each program year, beginning in November, participants take part in a six-Saturday lecture series that covers the basics of doing business, as well as the intricacies of doing business, in Japan. The lecture series ends in January and participants move on to the application portion of the program. Participants are placed onto teams with the goal of writing a professional level business plan for their project client’s endeavors in the Japanese market. Each team of 5-6 participants is assigned one company to work with for the duration of the program, and spends the next four months writing a business plan under the guidance of a JMEC mentor and consultant. Once business plans are completed by the end of April, they are handed in to both the project client and to a panel of judges. The judges review each plan and listen to an oral presentation delivered by each team. Winners are then determined and announced at the annual Awards Ceremony, which takes place at the beginning of June.

By the end of the program, participants receive not only classroom instruction about doing business in Japan, but also hands-on experience writing a business plan for the Japanese market, and project clients receive a quality business plan that is ready to implement at a fraction of the cost of hiring outside consultants, making JMEC a valuable resource for companies considering entering or expanding within Japan.