INSIGHTS / JAPAN EXECUTIVE SEARCH
Experience worth sharing.
Views on recruiting, hiring and leading in Japan. Choose the collection written for you, or explore the case studies behind the decisions.
Start a conversation →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 →CHOOSE YOUR COLLECTION
Who are you here for?
Case Studies
Company case studies on leadership, hiring and market entry. Public-record analysis sits alongside searches we have run ourselves.
Explore Case Studies → FOR EXPERIENCED RECRUITERSRecruiting Practice
Views on recruiting judgment, relationships and AI. The work behind the shortlist, the decisions that matter, and what produces a placement.
Explore Recruiting Practice → FOR CLIENTS & TALENT LEADERSHiring Leaders
Practical guidance for hiring country managers and building teams in Japan. Define the mandate, understand the market and run a process that earns trust.
Explore Hiring Leaders → カントリーマネジャーを目指す方・新任の方へカントリーマネジャー育成
次世代の日本事業責任者に向けた実践的な助言。実績が伝わるプロフィールを整え、次の機会を見極め、事業を率いるための準備を進めましょう。
記事を読む →Guides
Guides for hiring in Japan.
Nine guides to the questions that come up on every Japan build. Where a guide carries figures, it shows the date we last checked them.
Entity
EOR vs GK vs KK: what to know before you set up in Japan
What each structure lets you offer a candidate, what it costs to stand up and run, and how long each takes before you can pay someone. We do not incorporate entities or sell EOR, so nothing rides on the answer.
Reviewed September 2026
Cost model
The ¥70M question: what Japan people costs really look like
Base, bonus, statutory burden and the true all-in cost of a first Japan team, set against what the market is actually paying rather than a headquarters benchmark.
Reviewed September 2026
Leadership strategy
Country Manager: Builder, Translator or Caretaker?
Why the first hire is not just a sales lead, and how to pick the profile that suits the phase you are actually in rather than the one you want to be in.
Reviewed September 2026
Candidate view
What your Country Manager candidate is worried about
The questions a Japanese executive asks about a foreign employer before they will engage, and what they are quietly grading you on during the process.
Reviewed September 2026
Hiring process
The search was fine. The process killed it.
Same shortlist, two outcomes. The client-side behaviours that lose the best leaders, and the ones worth fixing before a search starts rather than after it fails.
Reviewed September 2026
Market structure
Japan IT executive search has an age problem
The Japan country manager bench is thin and old. Why that turns "just hire a Japanese-speaking leader" from an assumption into a costed decision, with the succession gap set out.
Reviewed September 2026
Leadership profile
Is your leader enterprise or channel?
The question comes up in almost every brief I take. The honest answer is that it depends on the stage the business is at, and the middle stage is the hard one.
Title and mandate
Choosing the title for your Japan leader
A passive candidate gives your posting a few seconds and takes the title at face value. Post the Japan country job as Vice President and it reads as a step down.
Accountability
Why procurement logic is a strategic risk
Run as a procurement exercise, a Japan President search selects for the wrong things. This is the case for APAC leadership owning it rather than delegating it.
Start reading.
One starting point from each collection. Each blog has its own article library and topics.
5 Priorities for First-Time Japan Country Managers
A practical starting point for your first country leadership role.
Read the article →RECRUITING PRACTICEWhy Japan’s Best Leaders Won’t Answer Your Recruiter
Why judgment, relationships and the person carrying the approach matter.
Read the article →HIRING LEADERSIs your leader enterprise or channel?
Choose the leadership profile that fits the stage of your Japan business.
Read the article →CASE STUDIESCelonis Japan: the hire won by a back-channel reference
A search we ran: market mapping, assessment and the reference that decided the close.
Read the article →