J-Trading – Full Circle Outsourcing
1 Case Overview

J-Trading, the US based arm of a Japanese keiretsu (group of enterprises), is a large enterprise which specialize in commodity trading in East and North America. Originally called JICO, J-Trading has become successful through operations such as acquiring foreign raw materials, importing technology, associations with foreign banks and investors, and manufacturing. With a staff of 350 employees, half being Japanese rotational staff – J-Trading was able to maneuver past crisis situations such as the dot com crash and 9/11 but the company was never really the same since (staff cuts and cost awareness).
In addition, the enterprise has experienced problems with their information
With that being said, J-Trading narrowed their shortlist to two vendors: DR Solutions and Yoshiko hosting. DR Solutions was a leader in the IT datacenter hosting industry revenues of $2.7 billion. Despite not getting the special service they deserved, DR Solutions still offered a proven, quality, and professional service. J-Trading also had the option of working with Yoshiko hosting, which was owned by the second largest Japanese keiretsu, Sumimato. Yoshiko executives were very socially connected with JICO and had a strong personal and business relationship. However, this did not hide the fact that Yoshiko hosting had problems within their own company. The hosting service they offer was an acquisition and both companies seemed to still be disjointed and not fully integrated. This resulted in unproductive meetings.
A conflict of interest is clearly evident but the correct decision, which was made, was to go ahead with DR Solutions who were more than capable to meet the needs of J-Trading.
2.2.2 PC Helpdesk

Due to the high volume of calls per month and bilingual requirement, J-Trading found it extremely difficult to procure a vendor to outsource their helpdesk services. Their search landed them two companies to choose from: Outsourcing Solutions and CMPI. On one hand, Outsourcing Solutions offered J-Trading an industry leading outsourcing service. Their