ABSTRACT
The rich opportunities of the Japanese marketplace are well evidenced by the fortunes of two firms that have targeted customers on different ends of the socioeconomic ladder. American Express has established itself as the premier "status" card in the Japanese market through sedulous cultivation of both its "card members" and vendors. Associates First Capital has, on the other hand, built a business catering to a cash-strapped and impulse-driven clientele whose main priorities are convenience and confidentiality. In both cases, the companies have achieved highly profitable and defensible market positions which they continue to strengthen by employing a mixture of locally grown and imported skills, people, and knowhow. Let us take a closer look at these two companies and their businesses.
