The Chairman of Ryohin Keikaku on Charting Muji’s Global Expansion hbr.org

posted by  banzaitokyo | 7 years, 4 months ago

In the late 1980s we tested the waters: Muji participated in an exhibition of Japanese products in London and sparked a great deal of interest from British retailers. Although Harrods was the first to ask about carrying the line, my predecessors declined, believing that its business culture wasn’t a good match. Instead we launched a joint venture with Liberty, a more design-focused UK department store. And that partnership emboldened us. We discovered a new goal: spreading our ethos of good, affordable, sustainable design throughout the world.