Stevie Awards – The International Business Award /Most Innovative Company of the Year“A rival” to “A partner”
IFNet Co. and Partners Consortium for Overseas Market Advancement

Copyright(C) 2011 IFNet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Introduction

IFNet Co. forms a consortium for overseas market advancement forcreation of a system to make overseas expansion by SMEs all overJapan easier. This consortium is composed in collaboration ofcompanies which have know-how on trade and us with thepartnership between a major trade support company and us as themain pillar of the organization.

Copyright(C) 2011 IFNet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

2

Trends in Overseas Expansion of Japanese SMEs
The following are data regarding overseas expansion of Japanese small and medium
businesses (SMEs).

AtAt present:
present: 76.1%
76.1% ofof JapaneseJapanese SMEs
SMEs have
have notnot developed
developed overseas
overseas business.
business.

Overseas
Overseas
expansion
expansion☓

4,200,000
Japanese SMEs

Barriers to overseas expansion• Businesses lack know-how and talent to start
operations overseas.
• They can’t expand overseas because their hands
are full with domestic projects.
• They believe overseas expansion incurs toomuch risk.
The percentage of wholesalers and retailers
looking overseas is particularly low.

Active Abroad・46.2%

Not Active・53.8%

Active Abroad・25.4%

Not Active・74.6%

Active Abroad・5.5%

Not Active・94.5%

Manufacturers
Wholesalers ・Retailers
Others* Source: “Investigation into the Actual Conditions of Overseas Projects by Small and Medium Businesses: 2009” (Organization for
Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation.) Data based on a random sampling of 55,569 small and medium businesses.
Copyright(C) 2011 IFNet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

3Makeup of the Consortium for Overseas Market Advancement
By forming a consortium of specialists, who until now had been rivals, from various fields, IFNet
Co. offers a service to support the achievement of foreign expansion for Japanese SMEs.

Foreign
Foreigncountries
countries
inin Asia
Asia

Alibaba.com

AlibabaMarketing KK.

Overseas expansion
know-how and support froma highly trusted group!

JapaneseSMEs

Providing themeans to expand
overseas
IFNet Co.

Other partner businesses

TheThe consortium
consortium supports
supports thethe overseas
overseas expansion
expansionofof JapaneseJapanese SMEs.
SMEs.
Copyright(C) 2011 IFNet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

4

Roles within the Consortium
The consortium leverages the specialties of each participating business and manages theservice using a fluid "mashup”-style organizational structure.

Introduction ofsales channels in
Asian countries andprovision of sales
consulting,translation, etc.

Alibaba.com

AlibabaMarketing KK.

Businesses which excel at tradewith Asian countries, anddistributors of the service

Approaching
Japanese SMEs andcreating SME lists

Providing themeans to expandoverseas
IFNet Co.

Other partner businesses

We admit new businesses
at any time and plan theorganizational mashup.

“Alibaba. com” is one of the largest services providing sales channels into Asian markets.
With our partnership with Alibaba Marketing KK, provider of the "Global Gold Supplier" service, as themain pillar of the organization, we continuously strengthen the consortium by welcoming businesses withproven experience in overseas expansion.

Copyright(C) 2011 IFNet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

5

Acquisition of Overseas Members
Discovery and acquisition of new SME members wishing to do business overseas is handled
primarily by IFNet Co., which has a lot of opportunities to meet SMEs,and our 290 sales partners.

Alibaba

Member acquisition requests /Data provision.com

Alibaba Marketing KK.

Alibaba.com
Business results of 2011 (1Q)

IFNet Co.
We discover SMEs interested in expanding
overseas via our network of 290 sales partners.

•revenue:$236,368,605•registration members :19,720,000•China GGS members :116,000•Japan GGS members :1,000

Partner businesses
２９０

Cooperative
Cooperativerelationships
relationships
withinwithinthe
theconsortium
consortiumspeed
speedupnewmember
growth!
up new member growth!

Copyright(C) 2011 IFNet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

businesses

They contact SMEs all overJapan to promote consortium
membership.

Overseas business members / Acquisition of business lists

6

"From rival to partner": Maximization of Synergy and Returns to Customers
Synergy between businesses is created through the operation of each member of the consortium;
The effects are paid back to end users who aim to start operations overseas as an improved levelof service.

Alibaba.com

Alibaba Marketing KK.
Issue :Services from complementary fields ofspecialty are provided within theconsortium.

Synergy between businesses

Increasing appeal to buyers
Marketing promotion information on Alibaba
member introduction page is insufficient.
•Creation of multi-language official business sites•Country-specific website optimization

Foreign buyers want to buy more!

IFNet Co.
Solution:

Acting as a site creation agent for SMEs
We globalize the official sites of JapaneseSMEs using knowledge gained from creating
1,200 such sites and leveraging our wide
network of Web production staff.

Partner businesses
Solution: Electronic books for the Web
Making self-publishedelectronic books for the Web

ReturnReturn thethe benefits
benefits toto overseas
overseas businessbusiness members!
members!
Copyright(C) 2011 IFNet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

7The Consortium and Respective Advantages
Advantages to each of the four members in the model:

Alibaba.com

Copyright(C) 2011 IFNet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Japanese SMEs

Realization of overseas expansion with a trusted business
partner while leveraging the name value and support
system of “Alibaba”, which has one of the largest services
in Asian countries

IFNet Co.

Discovery of more potential clients and increased sales
activities with stimulation of Japanese SMEs and creationof client lists

Alibaba Marketing
KK.

Increased membership in the "Global Gold Supplier"service and accompanying increased appeal of services
for overseas buyers

Partner businesses

Access to the consortium's list of Japanese SMEs, alongwith commissions for selling agents, as appropriate

8Conclusion
Consortium
Alibaba.com

Japanese SMEs

Companies
Companies who
who support
support SMEs
SMEs will
will work
work together
together totoencourage
encourage JapaneseJapanese businessbusiness expansion
expansion overseas!
overseas!

•Businesses lack the know-how and manpower to start operations overseas.
⇒ Support by the consortium provides this know-how•They cannot expand overseas because their hands are full with domestic
projects.
⇒ Decreased costs related to overseas business, such as translation•Overseas expansion incurs too much risk.
⇒ Introduction to only legitimate overseas buyers with proven track records

Overseas Expansion

Supporting
Supporting overseas
overseas expansion
expansion ofof small
small andand medium-sized
medium-sized businesses
businesses
stimulates
stimulates revitalization
revitalization ofof JapaneseJapanese commercecommerce andand industry,industry, andand inin turnturnstimulates
stimulates thethe recovery
recovery ofof thethe stagnant
stagnant JapaneseJapanese economy.
economy.
Copyright(C) 2011 IFNet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

9Corporate Profile

Company NameIFNet,Inc.

Founded

October 1, 2003

Capital

100 million yen

Representative

Tsuguo Umeda, President & CEO

Headquarters

2-13-6 Kakigara-cho, Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo

Business Category

Telecommunications Carriers （Notification #：A-15-6120）

Number of employees

105 (As of April 1, 2011)

Main BusinessVoice and data transmission services under theTelecommunications Business Law

Internet connection service
Business advertising
Planning, production and sales of homepage
Data processing services and information services
Computer software development and sales
Network communication services

Copyright(C) 2011 IFNet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

We meet minimum requirementsfor privacy mark system and havebeen recognized as a good
corporate standards for security inthe protection of personal
information in September 2010.

10