TT: How have changes in the delivery of advertising, like the Internet, affected your company's development of advertising?
Miyagawa: When a new medium appears, such as the Internet, it affects the technical part of our know-how, but the core essence does not change. We do not treat a new medium as a bottleneck in our business. For example, our services include all media -- from radio all the way to Internet -- but that doesn't change the nature of the business.
TT: How do you keep a company like yours, with over 100 years of history and innovation, moving forward?
Miyagawa: We pay close attention to what's going on in our environment -- the relationship between media, consumers and our clients. We absorb all the information required to adapt to the new environment, and create new strategies to cope with change. Most importantly, we emphasize our first-hand working experience with our clients and consumers.
TT: Will China and Taiwan's accession to the WTO affect your business in these markets?
Miyagawa: Before their entries into the WTO, China and Taiwan had already begun cross-strait trade. Therefore I believe it will help interaction across the Strait for both Chinese and Taiwanese businesspeople. We anticipate it will be beneficial for both markets. Following entry, the exchange of information and personnel will be more frequent. Generally speaking, I think the advantages will be greater than the disadvantages.
TT: Do you have any plan to further penetrate Asian markets in the future?
Miyagawa: Currently we have divided the Asian market into two major parts -- Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia. Another important market is the Greater China mar-ket, which we currently focus on from Hong Kong. China is a vast market -- Beijing, Shanghai to Canton -- with each regional market having its own cultural differences and dialects.
With the growing popularity of television in China, we believe there will be more business opportunities for us.
However, we will stick to our principle of understanding local cultures before launching any advertisements.
TT: Do you think China can maintain its 7 percent economic growth over the next few years?
Miyagawa: In the next five years, China is likely to maintain its 7 percent annual growth rate. However, we are skeptical as to whether it will be able to maintain such growth rate after that.
In order to cope with such high growth, we are planning to establish more operational sites in China for our large clients. Mean-while, we will conduct more studies of consumer behavior in China and use that information to cultivate more customers there.
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