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Paper short abstract:

This ethnographic case study examines a Japanese apparel company, Unique Clothing Warehouse (Uniqlo) that has been aggressively expanding its retail operations in European, Asian, American and Russian markets.

Paper long abstract:

The paper first describes the founder's philosophy and the management culture of Uniqlo that was highly successful in the Japanese market. It then outlines the firm's global strategy in Western as well as Asian countries, and investigates Uniqlo's managerial practice in the greater China region (especially in mainland China and Hong Kong) While locally hired employees were expected to attain a higher level of customer satisfaction, and therefore sale and profits, Uniqlo stores failed to train their staff fully, and could not achieve the corporate goals. While the company rigidly adhered to the corporate principles set by Tokyo, the local labor market in China responded negatively particularly to its human resource policies and practices. The top management in China and Japan were cognizant of the gravity of the situation and the worsening reputation of the company, and yet they failed to tackle these issues effectively to reverse the negative situation. This paper describes how the company insisted upon its management principles in the Hong Kong market and how local people reacted negatively to these practices. Understandably, Uniqlo's overseas operations were not profitable until 2006. However, the company's financial performance began to improve in 2008, and by 2010 its operational profits for overseas operations exceeded 6.5 billion yen ($90 million) or four times more than the previous year.