ironment. Kao Corporation strives to exist in harmony with Mother Nature in the course of its human activities. Management and Operational Strategies Kao Corporation is currently a multidomestic company with operations around the world. However, Kao Corporation has operations in 3 major regions, which is Asia, Europe and North America. Within each country, Kao Corporation sets ups its operation in the form of Foreign Direct Investments or Joint Ventures. For instance in Malaysia, Kao Corporation formed a Joint Venture with Boustead Holdings and Felda to form Kao Malaysia. The Joint Venture was seen as a necessary step to overcome entry barriers into the Malaysian market. Due to political and legal environment, the Joint Venture was seen as a strategic move to gain entry. Moreover, due to the vast difference between the Malaysian and Japanese cultures, a local partner was essential in aiding Kao Corporation to successfully market its product in Malaysia. Local partners know the local climate of the market and as such were in a better position to formulate appropriate marketing strategies suited for Malaysian market. Economic Value Added (EVA) Kao Corporation recognises that in order to be successful in a competitive world; the company cannot just emphasise on product quality and reliability. The company now is moving into cost efficiency. This means that Kao Corporation is moving a level up in the corporation’s business strategy theme. A model of Business level strategy was introduced by Nakane-Hall and can be seen below Speed/Flexibility Cost/Efficiency Dependability Quality In order to achieve better cost efficiency, Kao Corporation has decided to incorporate EVA in its management system. The objective of Eva is to steer the company towards sustainable profit growth. EVA was implemented as of April 1999 for the parent company. EVA was created by Stern Stewart which is a New York based consulting firm. The aim of EVA is to give im...
