My CIIE Story ? Great Opportunity: Asahi Kasei expects expo to accelerate its development in China

Editor's Note: The fifth China International Import Expo will open in less than 5 days. Several participants of the CIIE will tell their stories themed around "great opportunity" to showcase the positive changes the expo has made to the world and how it has helped build a community with a shared future for mankind over the past five years.

I have always firmly believed that China has a resilient economy and offers unmissable opportunities.

I was the president of Asahi Kasei China from 2014 to 2016 before taking up the position again this year. Great changes have taken place over the past few years - our Chinese business has experienced rapid development, the Chinese team has grown bigger, and Zoll Medical Corporation and Sage Automotive Interiors are now part of the company.

To gain more ground in China, we need to raise our profile. Due to a lack of publicity, Asahi Kasei's consumer-facing products were not able to capture a satisfactory market share, and we also hit a bottleneck in finding more business partners.

The CIIE, which we will be participating in for the first time this year, is the most important part of our current marketing strategy. We are looking to showcase to visitors, media, and other exhibitors our solutions, products, and sustainable development efforts. We are also hoping to communicate with companies from different sectors so that they will know that Asahi Kasei is a reliable business partner.

In the meantime, we will share our insights into Chinese society with representatives of organizations and local governments, and show them the value our company can create.

We expect the CIIE to accelerate our development in China and become our most effective means of promoting new products and technologies as well as building a strong brand. We also hope the expo can help us attract more talents as employees with varying characteristics and ideas are the driving force behind a company's continuous growth.

We are currently preparing for the fifth CIIE. Our Akxy Pod, which is a conceptual mockup of a car's interior, will make its China debut at the expo. By leveraging advanced technologies, sensors, fibers and resin, Akxy Pod creates a safe and comfortable space for users. The design also showcases Asahi Kasei's vision of coexistence with the environment and the future of automobiles.