Welcome to the twenty-second edition of B.

Young people often tell me that they want to become entrepreneurs or creative directors who freely set out on businesses and projects in diverse fields. I guess this is the impression they have of what JOH. does, but I have never thought of JOH. as a company that takes up multiple areas of business just because it has the ability.

During a recent flight, I came across an article in a newspaper that said, “Successful companies focus on one thing they do best.” This is true for many of the brands featured in B. However, it is important to approach the concept of the “one thing” with a new perspective. A camping brand might make camping products only, but their product range would be much wider than that of a company making tent fabric or lanterns only. The same can be said when you compare an automotive company that has focused exclusively on car manufacturing for decades to a company that only makes brakes. Muji, a Japanese lifestyle brand, started out by selling household items and clothes, and then extended to opening restaurants and flower shops. They even build and sell homes. While their range of business area is tremendously wide, few people would say their expansion was far-fetched. Such a good case of business expansion was possibly achieved because they all share a common “brand philosophy.”

Brand can be likened to “a way of thinking.” When brands of different territories have the same way of thinking, the clear distinction we have been making between them becomes insignificant. In this context, the idea of focusing on the “one thing” would mean an expansion in pursuit of not only profit but also the brand’s singular philosophy.

I recently watched a 70-minute interview of Steve Jobs. In the interview, he said of the people who worked at Apple, “If it hadn’t been computer science, these people would have been doing amazing things in other fields.” He was saying that at that time, software was just the best medium for them to express their originality. Perhaps this was possible because they shared “a distinctive way of thinking,” which Jobs defined as “taste.” As the result, Apple launched iPhone and changed the general idea that cell phone and computer are two different things. Now their integration is regarded as a natural concept.

The brand featured in this issue, Vibram, has become a world-class company that makes only outsoles, the rubber piece consisting the bottom of shoes. Whether a shoe is made by a high-end brand or a street brand, there is something special about a shoe with a Vibram outsole. Most famous shoe brands prefer Vibram’s outsoles because of their excellent qualities such as tight gripping on slippery surfaces and enduring harsh outdoor environment. Companies buy Vibram for
the same reason that drivers buy good tires for their cars—reliability. This is not different from world-class automobile makers working with world-class tire manufacturers and outstanding brake companies.

The fact that Vibram only makes outsoles does not mean that the company’s vision is narrow. In fact, it studies shoes from all around the world to make more functional soles for all kinds of shoes and to expand its vision as wide as possible. As a brand grows deeper and more concentrated toward a consistent way of thinking, the quality and value of its products will expand infinitely.

PublisherSuyong Joh

http://www.johsuyong.com