Working for the profit of companies, stakeholders and society and achieving the highest results. That’s the strength of FMI.
FMI as operations in four domains. At the heart of our operations is the pursuit of profit not just for clients but for all stakeholders and society at large. That’s how we are building a sustainable future. It’s why we recruit specialists from a diverse range of backgrounds and build systems that deliver comprehensive solutions. You’ll be amazed at how many opportunities there are to challenge yourself. Somewhere in our four domains of operations is the work that will excite and inspire you.
Management Consulting Business
- Support in formulating growth strategies, new business strategies, M&A strategies, etc.
- Support in Business Process Reengineering (BPR) of various functions including sales, production, procurement and logistics
- Solutions that utilize the latest technology of AI, IoT and FinTech
- Support in transforming the corporate climate in preparation for new growth
Mid-career hire, 3rd year with FMI
My first project was a growth-strategy proposal for a retailer in the Tokyo metropolitan area. With the cooperation of my seniors, I handled everything from research on the external environment to analysis of the client’s company-internal data. This was my first practical experience of that “testing from hypothetical constructs” people talk about. I saw with my own eyes my supervisor’s technique in obtaining the client’s understanding of our findings and guiding them to action that would lead to results. It was not his thinking as a consultant but his conduct that impressed me. After that project, I was tasked with a wide range of others, including support for company-wide reform of a regional food company, support for construction of a monitoring framework to follow the operational investments of a major trading company, due diligence on acquisition candidates for an electrical power company and a growth-strategy proposal.
At first my work consisted primarily of preparing financial models. As I did this work over and over, gradually the connection between operations and finance became clear to me and a picture emerged of the phenomena that underlay the numbers. After about two years, I noticed that somewhere along the way my skills in analyzing data and preparing materials had grown in leaps and bounds. FMI had given me the opportunity to handle important presentations from a young age; thanks to this steady accumulation of experience, I found that my ability to adapt and respond quickly to clients’ needs and questions was now orders of magnitude higher than when I joined the company. Recently I’ve been observing my colleagues with interest, noting how the team delivers results that exceed the sum of the contributions of each individual.
M&A Advisory Business
- Deal Advisory Services (Including Cross-border M&As)
- Post-M&A (PMI) Consulting
- Business Succession Consulting
Graduate hire, 3rd year with FMI
The first project I took part in was a sell-side project with the involvement of a fund. I was brought in at the outset with the client meeting. My job was to provide detailed answers to every one of more than 800 questions from buyer candidate. On that project we were unable to see eye-to-eye with the prospective buyer and at one point negotiations broke down. Half a year later, however, negotiations resumed, and at length we were able to announce the conclusion of a share-transfer agreement.
I had no idea what I was doing at first. Even so I was deluged with e-mail, receiving 100 messages in 30 minutes at the peak. I was dumbfounded by the speed with which they were coming in. Nonetheless, I found that after gaining experience in one or two projects, I could more or less anticipate what the next action would be. Nowadays I pay close attention as I converse with clients.
FMI allows its young employees broad discretion. I sometimes explain plans to clients face-to-face now, though I’m only in my third year with the firm. For example, in sell-side projects, in which the client is selling a business, it is a one-time experience for the client. In many cases, the client company has no experience in this sort of project. That means that, provided I accumulate enough experience, even a three-year employee like me can earn the gratitude of the client. As a result, my motivation grows stronger and stronger. The most exiting moment of all was when a project I had been involved I was reported at top right of the front page of the Nikkei.
Management Executive Support Business
- Support through the dispatch of management teams including the CxO
- Dispatch of turnaround managers
- From various surveys and analyses to support in the implementation of the 100-day turnaround to ensure “outcome”
Mid-career hire, 2nd year with FMI
In my first project, I was involved in performing due diligence on the business of a certain company on behalf of a fund that was deciding whether to invest in it. It was a super-brief project of only one month and I produced 100 pages of documents in just one week. I had just switched jobs and suddenly I was relinquishing my weekend for this project! I had moved over to FMI from the consulting world, but I wasn’t worried, as my department often paired new employees with a senior. Later I was stationed with a client for nine months to provide buy-side support for M&A with a major general trading company. To support the management ranks of an extremely busy client, I had to collate reams of information sent to me from each department and explain it simply to them with tight turnaround time. Seeing that the information I provided was clearly a factor in an extremely important management decision the client was making made the work feel enormously motivating and rewarding. I had gained a significantly higher vantage point over the business world than in my previous job. The consulting world is full of excellent people, so the culture at a lot of consulting firms is to treat even great achievements with little fanfare. But at FMI, we praise each other for even minor accomplishments. For me, that makes FMI a highly psychologically supportive workplace.
Business Revitalization Business
- Business revitalization
- Support in running the crisis Project Management Office
hire, 2nd year with FMI
The first project to which I was assigned, as a fresh graduate, was a revitalization project for a food company. The company was protected under the Corporate Rehabilitation Act, and my department was working with our M&A Division, so several seniors told me, “you’ll learn a lot on this job.” My first job as a member of the team consisted of tasks such as writing up meeting minutes, adjusting members’ schedules and preparing materials for meetings. I often worked till midnight, visiting factories all over Japan and preparing memoranda and other documents. There was a lot I didn’t understand, but because the client was an industry major, I worked under the pressure of knowing that my work could have an impact on the dinner tables of my fellow Japanese. Naturally, when we brought the project to a successful completion, the feeling of accomplishment was indescribable. Now in my second year, I’m working on my third project. I visit the client's office alone and attend monitoring meetings. I’m now comfortable discussing numbers with Financial Accounting Department managers in their 40s and 50s and managing directors in charge of sales.
Business revitalization is a job that requires strength, both mental and physical. But the social significance of it and the feeling of accomplishment when the job is done make it immensely rewarding for me.