Japan Firms More Reliant On Talent From Elsewhere In Asia

TOKYO (Nikkei)--Japanese companies increasingly depend on experts, such as engineers and researchers, from other Asian countries for growth.

[Comments: The article moves into discussing various approaches of Japanese companies such as Uniqlo Co, Toray Industries Inc., IHI Corp., Sasebo Heavy Industries Co., and Nitto Denko Corp.]

Nitto Denko Corp.'s (6988) R&D center in Singapore relies heavily on Visit Thaveeprungsriporn, a nuclear physicist from Thailand who graduated from a U.S. university. Thaveeprungsriporn, 42, joined Nitto Denko in 2005 after the Japanese materials producer acquired a company where he was an executive.

The Singapore R&D center is developing optical technology-based diagnostic devices and operations are progressing much faster than at R&D centers in Japan due to Thaveeprungsriporn's leadership, which involves his gathering of expert staffers, said a Japanese executive there.

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