Survey on trends in global strategies of Japanese companies 2023-2024

Japanese

We began 2023 with the announcement that the COVID-19 crisis, which had lasted for more than three years worldwide, had finally subsided, with the disease being downgraded to Class 5 in Japan. People in many countries around the world have returned to their daily lives as they were before the COVID-19 crisis, but the world’s economic and social situation is not the same as before. Instead, a ‘new normal’, consisting of new social norms and structures for the post-COVID-19 era, is gradually being established.

One year has also passed since the inception of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but there is no sign of an end to the conflict, and many companies have been forced to withdraw from Russia. In addition, the impact of the invasion has spread beyond Russia and Ukraine. Such impact includes the intensification of a ‘new cold war’, tight energy supply and demand, and constraints on the free movement of people, goods and money. Some also believe that the macroeconomic environment in the US is deteriorating rapidly as prices continue to increase. Similar signs are apparent in China, which, in its battle for hegemony, has had an significant impact on global companies as tensions rise between the United States and China.

How should companies confront this rapidly changing and uncertain business environment? Following from last year, the PwC Japan Group has conducted a survey on the global strategies of Japanese companies and the way they are implementing them. This report provides an overview of critical management issues highlighted in the survey. In addition, this year’s report covers for the first time issues related to the implementation of global technology.