INSIGHTS / LEADERSHIP & MARKET ENTRY
What building Japan takes.
Company case studies on leadership, hiring and market entry. Public-record analysis sits alongside searches we have run ourselves.
Discuss a search →MURRAY CLARKE / FOUNDING PARTNER
Experience, applied with AI.
I’m Murray Clarke, founding partner of Aspiring Partners. I’ve spent more than 20 years in executive search in Japan, helping build four search firms. That includes years helping VMware hire its leadership team, two years internally during hypergrowth, and the executive-search joint venture I built with ManpowerGroup before selling my interest to the group.
These case studies connect the decisions behind a Japan leadership hire with what happens in the business afterwards. Some cover searches we ran; others analyse public company records.
This time, we’ve built our own platform and use AI extensively in the work. It helps me apply that experience more broadly in support of candidates, clients and the recruiters working with us. The technology supports the research and preparation; I remain accountable for the judgment and relationships.
More about Murray and Aspiring Partners →Glean Japan: How a $300M AI Company Is Building to Win Early
Glean has appointed Shoji Ozawa as Country Manager for Japan. A look at how a fast-growing AI company builds its Japan business well before it has to.
Workday Japan: The Lesson Is Not “Localise Everything”. It Is “Show Japan You Are Serious”.
Workday's turning point in Japan came from proving it was serious about the market. The specific commitments behind that message, and what they cost.
Asana vs monday.com in Japan: One Built a Market, One Stalled Trying
Asana and monday.com entered Japan at around the same time. Their hiring sequence, partner choices and leadership continuity took them to different places.
Zendesk Japan: From SMB to Enterprise, and a Warning for AI Entrants
Zendesk entered Japan in 2013 and won SMB quickly. Enterprise took five more years, a patient build and a deliberate addition of senior leadership.
Dropbox vs. Box in Japan: Why The Bigger Brand Lost The Enterprise
Two American cloud collaboration companies opened in Tokyo within a year of each other. A decade on, the smaller of the two owns the enterprise market.
Wiz Japan: A Case Study In How To Enter Japan Properly
Wiz went from a small founding presence to a substantial local organisation and a visible partner ecosystem in a short time. The sequence it used to do it.
SUSE’s Story: Repositioning Legacy Brands in the Japanese Market
Transformation is hard anywhere and harder for a challenger brand. In Japan it also runs against the status quo, which is a specific problem to solve.
The Splunk Japan Playbook: A Capital Allocation Study in Market Entry
Splunk's five-year Japan rollout, from a small beachhead team to a full leadership bench and enterprise-scale revenue, read as a capital allocation decision.