Solargain Strategy Report of Entering into Japan Market

Executive summary
The report below aims to help Solargain Company to expand its market to Japan. The research result indicates that Japan is in demand of renewable energy after the great damage from Fukushima disaster in 2011. Based on the good trading relationship between Japan and Australia, Solargain Company with good reputation in Australia is reliable in Japan. However, it will face many challenges in the globalization period from both internal and external environmental especially the unique culture and climates. Finally, Solargain Company is recommended to do some changes in terms of price, language, panel installation and distribution. And keep its good quality and service.

Contents

Introduction
Environmental problems that we face today require long-term actions to solve to achieve a sustainable environment (Dincer 2000). One of the effective solutions is using a renewable energy resource and this will be a popular trend in the future global market. As a top 10 Australian solar energy company (Parkinson 2012), Solargain should not just satisfy with a domestic market. With an abundant experience in solar energy industry, Solargain should expand their product globally, especially to a big market.
Japan is a good choice to expand. Even though Solar power in Japan has been expanding since the late 1990s and the country is a leading manufacturer of solar panels, the country still has a big market potential to enter compared with other considered countries due to the Japanese government’s promotion and environmental disaster. For example, according to Hueneler, Schmidt & Kanie (2012), the Japanese electricity sector is facing a big challenge after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, so the government has promoted increased utilization of renewable energy. Besides, one of the researches had shown that solar demand in Japan has been increasing (Parnell 2014).
Therefore, Japan is our final choice for internationalization of Solargain. This report will focus on different aspects in expanding Solargain’s products to Japan. It includes a background of the company, reasons why Japan is regarded as an appropriate market, identification of target market, major external influences for the company’s products and adjustment of marketing mix for expanding to Japan.

Background of the company
Solargain is one of Australia’s largest integrated solar energy and solar hot water business. The name, Solargain was established eight years ago however the company started their business 20 years ago in Perth. Therefore, Solargain is an experienced company within solar energy industry.
In terms of product lines, Solargain is engaging in two product lines which are solar panel and solar hot water system. These two product lines respectively involve different types to meet different demands of customers (See Appendix A).
As for services, Solargain is doing well in sales service and after-sales service. For sales service, website of Solargain enables customers to select their locations and browse their solar packages in their states. Customers can also call the staff directly to ask for detailed information. For after-sales service, Solargain provides system maintenance, customer service hotline to solve any issues in using its products (See Appendix B).
For areas of expertise, Solargain mainly works in residential and large commercial projects (See Appendix C), usually work in partnership with quality affiliates and builders. Solargain is also the sole supplier and installer for some of the largest builders in Australia such as ABN Group and BGC.
Finally, as Solargain has a high reputation and abundant experience within the Australian solar industry, it has a really big potential to expand overseas.

Analysis of the proposed country As mentioned above, Solargain has a big potential to