By Fukuda Yuzuru, President SAP Japan and Stefan Steinle, SVP, Head of SAP Globalization Services

Japan has distinguished itself as not just manufacturers of consumer products but also as the intellectual property exporters of these products.

As leaders in electronics and hardware in the 1970s and 80s, Japan was an early mover in the globalization game. For example, as early as 1970s, Sony is known to have hired non-Japanese presidents in regional centers – in a bid to ensure local adoption of their products. In 1989, Sony took the unprecedented step of hiring 2 non-Japanese directors on their board – again a move to establish trust and confidence in their global leaders. This was followed by branching out R&D centers nearer to their global units. read more

By Khaled Musilhy, Director of Globalization Services, SAP

The wait finally seemed to be over after a 15-hour flight. Amidst the hustle and bustle of the airport, I finally found myself standing in front of an immigration officer who I expected to stamp my passport, but instead rejected my entry into the country.

In this era of digitization, backed by powerful technologies, it never crossed my mind that I’d be denied entry due to an invalid visa status, following a system failure in updating the database.

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