1. Moravia IT: Opening an
Office in Japan
Moravia IT Japan
Arturo Quintero
Chief Corporate Strategist
April 3, 2007
TUESDAY Business Network, Prague

2. Moravia IT Overview
• Established: 1990
• Headquarters: Brno, Czech Republic
• Services:
– Software localization and translation into 90 languages
and locales
– Software testing & engineering
• 450+ employees worldwide, 44.5M USD (2006)
• Offices:
– Europe: Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia
– Japan (established in May 2004), China
– USA (Los Angeles, Seattle, New Jersey)
– Argentina
• Privately owned, organic growth

3. Brno, Czech Republic Nanjing, China

4. Localisation:
Original UI screen
Localized UI screen
First Step
Rewriting + Resizing
(instead of ‘or’, ‘/’ is used.)

5. Clients include…
• 3Com • Microsoft
• Adobe • Novell
• Autodesk • Olympus
• Avaya • Oracle
• Epson
• Palm
• Esselte
• Sun Microsystems
• Google
• Hewlett Packard • Symantec
• IBM • Tektronix
• Logitech • Toshiba
• Mercury Interactive • World Bank
• Xerox

7. Establishing our office
• Support from Jetro:
– IBSC temporary offices for 50 working days in Akasaka Twin
Towers
– Incorporation (branch, subsidiary KK, …)
– Visas and residence (critical for those living in Tokyo)
– Tax advisors, Accounting companies, Recruitment agencies
– Lawyers
– Local customs & cultural expectations
• Support from our main client:
– Introduction to local business community
– Meetings every two weeks for half a day
– Respect of ‘Hierarchy’
‘Senpai - Kouhai‘ relationship
• Support from our suppliers in Japan:
– ‘Honne’ (honest feelings) and ‘Tatemae’ (official stance)
– Help us understand difference between local and foreign firms

8. Current Location
Tokyo Office, Yotsuya

9. The Challenges
• Finding right fit for external partners and advisors
– Accounting company & lawyers
– Local vs. global companies; cost vs. benefits
• Employee recruitment & retention
– Methods of recruitment - agencies vs. direct, profiling your candidate
– Candidates’ expectations of joining international companies is that offer is
higher
• Finding permanent premises to rent
– Some required guarantees difficult to reach for foreign companies
• Costs (Moravia IT budget excluding my personal living costs)
– 2004: 320k USD
– 2005: 620K USD
– 2006: 800K USD
• Main cost drivers
– Office rent & residence costs (ca 10%)
– HR-related costs and services (ca 20%)
– Employee salaries (ca 40%)
– Misunderstandings: Quality, Productivity, Support

10. The Challenges (cont.)
• Cultural considerations
– Knowledge of spoken English
– Balance between HQ rules and local solution & adaptation
– Different management approaches
• Business environment
– Based on relationships, trust and frequent visits
– Things take their time, be patient
– Preference for dealing with Japanese, in Japanese
– Relations (Master/Slave) from western perspective
• Remoteness from other offices and locations
• Assets
– “Checo” has a positive reputation
– Recent Japanese investments in Czech Republic are known
and increase trust
– European Union membership leverage

11. Contact Details
Moravia IT Japan Moravia IT, a.s.
Tokyo Office Corporate Headquarters
Shinji Building, 5F Hilleho 4
4-3-29 Yotsuya 602 00 Brno
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Czech Republic
160-0004, Japan Tel: +420-545-552-222
Tel: +81-3-3354-3320 Fax: +420-545-552-233
Fax: +81-3-3354-3325
www.moraviaworldwide.jp www.moraviaworldwide.com
Terukazu Konishi Arturo Quintero
Terukazuk@moraviaworldwide.com arturoq@moraviaworldwide.com

12. Tokyo 2005 Tokyo 2006
Questions & Answers