2003年度（2003.4～2004.3）　ワークショップ講演

目次へ戻る

5th Workshop (May 8, 2003)
Entrepreneurship Study, Graduate School for Creative Cities, Osaka City University,
Guest Speaker: Ms. Michiko Hirono, President & CEO of 21 LADY Company

Key Words: Venture Link Co., Ltd., Retail net Inc., HIROTA, HUB, Chain store

1. Lecturer Profile
Based on her experience at Venture Link Co., Ltd., and a venture capital firm affiliated with Mitsui & Co.,Ltd, Ms. Hirono founded the joint-stock corporation 21 LADY Company (http://www.21Lady.com) in March of 2000, with the goal of providing lifestyle solutions for the 21st century. She is striving to take the company public early.

2. Lecture Summary: Comprehensive Support for Lifestyle Proposal Chains - the Goal of 21 LADY Company
1) Background to Founding of the Company
In her corporate career, Ms. Hirono dealt with the tie-up between franchisors and potential franchisees, as well as the development of franchise operations in general, through Venture Link Co., Ltd., and, after joining Plaza Create Co., Ltd., oversaw the planning, start-up and expansion of CAFE de CRIE, and the promotion of the TULLY’S COFFEE business for MVC Corporation, a venture capital group affiliated with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Her aspirations to help 21st century women become independent resulted in the founding of her own company.
She established consulting to chain stores using her experience and providing female-oriented lifestyle information via Web sites as the main business activities of the company. Thanks to the IT boom, she was able to raise approximately 100 million yen in financing. She focused her corporate philosophy around the “independence of women” and “proposing lifestyles that provide a feeling of affluence” and went after FC business.

2) “CHOU FACTORY” (Retail net Inc.)
Seeing franchise potential in a cream puff shop that a friend of hers was involved with, Ms. Hirono took over the operation for 30 million yen. In the pastry industry (with a market scale of 500 billion yen), cream puffs (with a market scale of 200 billion yen) are a perennially popular product that does not depend on trends. Further, it provides an FC model that is not affected by age, sex or experience and carries smaller investment risks for the franchisees.
The average owner has recouped the initial capital of 15 million yen within a few years and does a monthly business of five million yen in a 23m2 shop. These results are consistent with the corporate philosophy set up at the company founding and are actually contributing to the “independence of women.” Some owners, including men, are people who left major companies.
CHOU FACTORY, starting with three shops, opened a succession of shops mainly at places with good traffic flow like train station buildings, and has grown into a business with sales of 400 million yen and profits of 30 million yen. The shop at JR Ueno Station sells approximately 2000 cream puffs and accounts for about one-third of all sales. Thanks to the contribution of young part-time workers to store management and declining rents because of the recent deflation, CHOU FACTORY is expected to achieve further growth.

3) Acquisition and Reorganization of “HIROTA”
On information from an acquaintance, Ms. Hirono took an interest in the cream puff chain HIROTA (which was under a total debt of five billion yen), which had applied for bankruptcy protection under the Civil Rehabilitation Law. She won the competition against other 13 companies to acquire HIROTA for 50 million yen on condition that she continue the brand name HIROTA.
The cream puff chain, with its 72 shops in good locations like station areas, was attractive and was expected to demonstrate a synergy with CHOU FACTORY. HIROTA’s distribution system, which consisted of shipping the cream puffs from a large factory to each shop, allowed sales in station areas without manufacturing equipment. In addition, the acquisition had other merits, including the possibility of replacing HIROTA’s shops with those of CHOU FACTORY around stations and at department stores. The HIROTA shops, however, needed to be remodeled in order to revive the brand's stale image. Therefore, Ms. Hirono increased capital by 300 million yen by issuing shares at 400 thousand yen each.

Upon actually taking over operation of HIROTA, Ms. Hirono found that the company was dominated by males who thrived in a seniority promotion system. To reform that corporate climate, she pressured HIROTA’s employees to choose “survival or collapse,” including announcing the replacement of employee retirement benefit allowances with stock options.
As her efforts started to move the employees in the direction of survival, she made the bold decision to appoint a woman in her 20’s as a shop manager. This person’s common sense approach to sales improvement and customer service led to dramatically increased monthly sales for the store, from five million to 12 million yen. Mobile shops (a one-million-yen project), which could be opened in small spots around stations and department stores, have also been performing well. HIROTA has moved into the black, with a projected annual business volume of five billion yen and profits of 300 million yen.

4) Capital Participation in “HUB”
Through an acquaintance, Ms. Hirono approached HUB, an English pub chain affiliated with a major retailer, about participating in their business. With its cash-on-delivery system, HUB promoted itself as a place that drew people from every direction, as its name indicated, providing opportunities for building horizontal relationships. Since a pub chain was a new and attractive business category for 21 LADY Company, the company invested in HUB with Katokichi Co., Ltd. HUB currently has a new system for opening and operating locations.

5) Fund Operation (Investment in Chain Stores and Lifestyle-related Businesses)
Ms. Hirono had difficulty getting financing for TULLY’S COFFEE when she was working at the venture capital firm, and learned that direct financing was common in the U.S.A. However, in Japan, direct financing institutions, namely banks, as a rule require collateral and personal guarantors. It occurred to her that for this reason there could be room for a financing system that used the earning capacity of a chain store as security. She currently operates “Kyoto 21 Lifestyle Fund” and “Shinko Lifestyle Fund”, which provide funding based on unique criteria:
(1) Know-how in the operation and expansion of shops must be packaged.
(2) The management must be passionate.
(3) Business must be simplified and standardized.
(4) There must exist factors that differentiate the business.
Among the main achievements of these funding institutions are a gourmet sandwich chain, a flower shop chain that purchases directly from suppliers at 400 production sites, a Japanese cuisine chain and a Korean barbeque chain.

3. Ms. Hirono’s Approach to Management
Since the company’s founding, Mr. Hirono has dealt personally with all tasks other than accounting. She ran the company with only a handful of employees during the first year. At a company’s start-up, efforts to keep fixed expenses low are necessary, and the break-even point must be low. 21 LADY Company ran in the black in its second term-since the first term was a settlement term, it was short. The business domain of 21 LADY Company is related to clothing, dining-out, housing, work, entertainment and learning, and is currently focused on dining-out and delicatessens. She believes that as a business operator holding down inventory is essential.
She is convinced that health- and education-related services can also be developed into franchise operations, provided that they can offer value that differentiates them. She believes that developing different business categories rather than expanding the scale should be the future strategy for opening shops, and that such a strategy will suit the new age.
In terms of personnel affairs, she believes that a business can be operated by part-time workers if it can be simplified and standardized. Employees who enjoy having a shop under their own control will grow if appropriate incentives and training are provided. In fact, there is one case where a part-time worker who started at an hourly wage of 800 yen was promoted to president & CEO later on. She expects that there will be a further diversification of working arrangements to accommodate variations in lifestyles.
In comparing men and women, Ms. Hirono feels that men are less likely to keep up with changes. She finds them less adaptable than women. She says past experience may not be necessary in today’s world. She makes it a rule to put the right men and women in the right places, because a balance between both sexes is also important.

4. Are There Any Obstacles for Female Entrepreneurs in Japan? (Ms. Hirono’s answer to a student’s question)
Japanese society is dominated by males - almost all the key people and decision-makers are men. For example, the directors and branch managers at Japanese banks are all men. However, sex differences are not a significant factor in a venture society. I am free to say whatever I want to say. If, in discussing a business deal with another company, you feel at a disadvantage because you are a woman, it is wiser not to do business with that company. On the other hand, I believe that 21 LADY Company has benefited from doing business in domains where we can take advantage of our feminine viewpoint in assessing consumer needs. It is also important to earn trust by achieving results.

▲このページのトップへ