Key Issues and Challenges in International Management:
Taking MUJI as an Example
Student’s Name
ID
Tutor’s Name
Date
Introduction............................................................................................................5
2. Literature Review...............................................................................................6
2.1 Culture......................................................................................................6
2.2 Strategy....................................................................................................7
2.3 Responsibility...........................................................................................7
3. Key issues in international management............................................................8
3.1 National culture difference.......................................................................8
3.1.1 Reasons for culture difference.......................................................8
[Link] Communication and language............................................8
[Link] Religion and belief.............................................................9
[Link] Ethnocentrism....................................................................9
[Link] Habits and customs............................................................9
3.1.2 Culture shock..............................................................................10
3.2 Strategy implementation........................................................................10
3.3 Corporate social responsibility...............................................................11
4. MUJI's international management....................................................................11
4.1 Introduction to MUJI..............................................................................11
4.1.1 MUJI's overview.........................................................................11
4.1.2 Main products and services.........................................................11
4.1.3 MUJI's philosophy......................................................................12
4.2 Challenges in MUJI's international management...................................12
4.2.1 Cross-cultural Issues...................................................................12
[Link] Interpersonal skills...........................................................13
[Link] Global Teams....................................................................13
[Link] MUJI culture's globalisation............................................13
4.2.2 Multinational management..........................................................14
[Link] Strategy............................................................................14
[Link] Structure...........................................................................14
[Link] System..............................................................................15
4.2.3 Corporate social responsibility....................................................15
[Link] Ethics................................................................................15
[Link] Sustainability....................................................................16
5. Advice for managers to solve the challenges...................................................16
5.1 Cross-cultural management....................................................................16
5.1.1 Constructing a unified Company values System........................16
5.1.2 Strengthening cross-cultural training..........................................17
5.1.3 Following the MBI model...........................................................17
5.1.4 Strengthening cross-cultural integration.....................................18
5.2 Managing change...................................................................................18
5.2 1 Change in strategies....................................................................18
5.2.2 Change in structure.....................................................................19
5.2.3 Change in system........................................................................19
5.3 Adhering to principles............................................................................20
6. Conclusion........................................................................................................20
References............................................................................................................21
Introduction
With the globalisation process, interactions between countries are becoming more
frequent. Among the interactions, the expansion of global market has been through
tremendous changes. New requirements for all walks of life have been put forward,
which has brought new development space for multinational companies.
Nevertheless, at the same time, the international trade market is becoming more
complicated, as the world is changing rapidly and new situations occur every day.
Differences accompany changes. No matter in the political, economic, natural, or
cultural environment, differences will impact companies' international operations to a
certain degree.
Among the aspects, cultural difference becomes a vital factor that affects the global
activities of companies. Cross-cultural communication is a necessary step for
companies to enter the national market. Cultural differences undoubtedly make the
market competition more intense, the risk more significant, and the transaction more
complicated. Good performance in the overseas operation activities under different
cultural backgrounds is not simple for multinational companies to achieve.
On this basis, multinational companies also need to consider the implementation of
the strategy. According to the cultural environment of different markets and the
influence of formal institutions such as political and economic conditions, it is worth
discussing which strategies can be globalized and localized.
Moreover, the responsibility of companies themselves is also a topic worthy of
attention in global operation. Some companies in different parts of the world layout
each link of the industrial chain, in the decision-making will involve the two levels of
ethics and responsibility. How to achieve their development while considering
stakeholders' interests is also a problem that companies should seriously consider.
This report analyses the case of the multinational operation of the Japanese brand
MUJI by using relevant theories. It begins with a literature review of international
management, then discusses the impact of the above critical issues and challenges
encountered by multinational companies. Then, it provides some countermeasures for
MUJI, which has particular research significance.
2. Literature Review
In terms of key issues and challenges in international management based on a
multinational organization's view, we can mainly divide the study areas of existing
literature into three perspectives: culture, strategy implementation, and responsibility.
2.1 Culture
In the early days, many scholars tended to explore the cultural differences between
different countries or groups from the perspective of dimension to achieve effective
cross-cultural management. For example, American anthropologist Kluckhohn &
Strodtbeck (1961) put forward the six value orientation methods in Variations in Value
Orientations. Hofstede (1991) raised the five dimensions of culture in Cultures and
Organizations, which is the most influential theory in cross-culture management.
Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner (1997) put forward the theory of cultural
frameworks in Riding the Waves of Culture. Schwartz (1992) put forward the ten
value/need-oriented theory.
Some scholars have conducted a comparative study on the management model of
different countries according to national culture characteristics. For example, Ouchi
(1981) first proposed the innovative plan of cross-cultural management between the
two countries, namely "Theory Z," based on comparing the management modes of
American and Japanese companies. In the book Management, Koontz & Weihrich
(1993), based on five essential management functions, compared and summarized the
management modes of American, Japanese, and Chinese companies.
Under this condition, Earley and Ang (2003) raised the concept of cultural
competence/quotient (CQ), which refers to the capability to adapt effectively in
intercultural contexts through a combination of cognitive, motivational, and
behavioural approaches. Bennett (2004) argued that building cultural competence
followed a process model, which required moving from an ethnocentric to an ethic-
relative perspective.
2.2 Strategy
Michael Porter (1998) put forward the theory of competitive strategy and competitive
advantage. Porter believes that the core of company strategy is to establish its
competitive advantage. He also put forward two competitive advantages that
companies can cultivate: low-cost advantage and differentiation advantage.
Shahani (2020) argued the opportunities of matrix organization, an organizational
strategy based on two or more dimensions, including functions, products, or regions.
The earliest matrix organization is a two-dimensional structure, which is a typical
corporate function profit centre matrix. Most of the three-dimensional matrix
organizations come from international business needs, and some of them involve the
regional dimension. They usually design the organizational structure according to the
functions, product lines, and customer groups. The company will not stop at three-
dimensional matrix organization. With the increase of customer demand, four or more
dimensions will join in.
Díez et al. (2004) put forward the "learning organization" model, emphasizing the
significance of learning in the strategic field. The changing environment requires the
transfer and sharing of new ideas and knowledge, including technology, marketing
strategy and research, consumer understanding through identifying differences, and
product design across MNC's organizational systems and individuals.
2.3 Responsibility
The perspective of responsibility mainly includes ethics and sustainability.
Fontrodona, Ferrell, and Gresham (1985) held that the behaviour controlled by free
will and brings happiness or harm to others is ethical behaviour. Jones (1991)
suggested that managers' decisions are ethical, but they are not aware of them. Ricart
and Berrone (2018) argued that business ethics is the conceptual rules and behaviour
norms that companies should abide by when establishing relations and interacting
with all their stakeholders. As a kind of ideological guidance to regulate company
behaviour, business ethics is mainly about the norms of good and evil. It tells
company managers how they should behave. What is good and what is evil is the core
issue of business ethics research. It plays the role of ideological guidance and
behavioural constraints on company behaviour.
Schmidheiney (1992) suggested that the sustainable development of a company
means considering economic growth, environmental protection, and social
responsibility during strategic planning and decision-making. J. Hill (2001) argued
that it was not enough for companies to only care about economic benefits. Besides,
they should consider improving people's living standards and environmental
protection, which results in the sustainable development of companies.
3. Key issues in international management
3.1 National culture difference
3.1.1 Reasons for culture difference
[Link] Communication and language
Communication, whether verbal or nonverbal, can create gaps between different
cultures. As a primary method for communicating, language can broadly reflect a
society's culture, for not only being a lexical collection but also a cultural mode of
mind. Only when the managers of the subsidiaries sent by multinational corporations
know the host country's local language can they communicate directly with the local
employees and customers. Behaviour language is another form of communication,
which can only make people understand, but hard to express (Sweeney & McFarlin,
2015). Also, gestures or other actions may create misunderstanding for
communicators from different backgrounds. A language barrier increases the cost of
global operations.
[Link] Religion and belief
It is common for people to have faith in a specific religion. Religion and belief can
represent particular history and culture. Different religions and beliefs effect people's
code of conduct and the way they judge the world. The concept contained in a
particular religion or belief dominates people's actions and influences how they think.
Hence, managers in multinational companies will encounter failure if they do not
study the religions and beliefs of the host country ahead of time, for they may lack a
better understanding of their potential consumers and feel confused in decision
making.
[Link] Ethnocentrism
People of ethnocentrism often live with pride and conceit, thinking that their ethnic
group is superior and despise other ethnic groups. They judge the world with their
own culture and standards. When observing another culture, people often
unconsciously regard their culture as superior to other cultures and often make value
judgments on things different from their own culture. Culture is the software of our
hearts, the guide to our actions, and the filter we are wearing. We cannot eliminate the
various ideas and views we have gained in the social process. This kind of
ethnocentrism often makes people take their nation as the centre. The managers who
take their nation as the centre think that the native people are more intelligent and
reliable than people from other countries. If a multinational company hires too many
people of this kind, cultural conflicts are inevitable.
[Link] Habits and customs
Different countries or nationalities have formed their unique habits and customs.
Sometimes, the lack of knowledge of a country's habits and customs will offend a
specific group of people and harm a company's reputation. Thus, multinational
companies must learn how to "do as the Romans do" to "survive the fittest."
3.1.2 Culture shock
Cultural shock refers to the state of opposition, mutual exclusion, mutual
contradiction, and mutual negation between different cultures and subcultures. It
includes conflict between the companies and the host country and conflicts within a
multinational company (Rosenblatt, 2011). Cross-cultural conflict may lead to
integration, substitution, separation at the cultural level, or even the failure of cultural
contact.
3.2 Strategy implementation
The balance between global integration and local responsiveness is critical in strategy
implementation. It involves the localization of multinational companies. After
entering a country's market, multinational companies need to achieve a development
strategy of integrating into the local economic system based on local characteristics.
In the localization process, elements of a multinational company are integrated into
and in the local culture or in a similar way (Romelaer and Beddi, 2015), which is not
an easy project and takes time. Globalization strategy assists multinational companies
to make certain decisions and reforms according to actual situations. This complex
localization process is not a temporary partial adjustment due to the difficulties
encountered by multinational companies in the host country's development, but a
systematic and long-term strategic arrangement based on various considerations and
careful investigation. Today, it is neither contradictory nor interdependent for global
companies to perform the localization and globalization strategies. Only by preparing
a sound localization basis can companies continue their globalization process.
Through the localization of the operation of multinational companies to adapt to the
development of local specific circumstances, multinational companies can appear
everywhere and thus realize the globalization goals.
3.3 Corporate social responsibility
There are many kinds of human behaviours, which can be divided from different
angles. From the perspective of ethics, it includes ethical behaviour and non-ethical
behaviour. Ethical behaviour refers to the one under the control of certain moral
consciousness, which is beneficial or harmful to others and society. Unethical
behaviour refers to one that is not controlled by certain consciousness and does not
involve whether it is beneficial or harmful to others or society. According to common
sense, before ethical and unethical behaviours occur, there must be a decision-making
process that most people cannot see. First, there is an unethical decision-making
process, and then there is unethical behaviour. This process is the ethical decision-
making process. In multinational business activities, people often need to solve ethical
problems related to its social responsibility. Affected by different interests and
temptations, the process of ethical decision-making is often not straightforward.
4. MUJI's international management
4.1 Introduction to MUJI
4.1.1 MUJI's overview
MUJI, short for Mujirushi Ryōhin, is a Japanese retail company that offers a wide
variety of good quality products, including household goods, apparel, and food. It has
been credited with being "resource-saving," "low-priced," "simple," "anonymous,"
and "nature-oriented."
4.1.2 Main products and services
As the brand for the company Ryohin Keikaku to market its products, MUJI's offers
clothing, flowers, furniture, bicycle, fashion accessories, home appliances, and other
products. The company provides product planning, development, and wholesale
services. It has already built a large scale of stores across Japan, and also entered
many other countries, including the UK, China, South Korea (Ryohin Keikaku Co.,
Ltd, 2015). MUJI's products both won great appreciation and sent shock waves not
only through Japan but across the entire world.
4.1.3 MUJI's philosophy
MUJI in Japanese can be translated as "no-brand quality goods" in English. Holding a
minimalist design philosophy, MUJI seldom emphasizes any brand awareness.
Besides, it is making efforts to keep all its product close to the origin of the materials
it uses. They are building a "no-brand" brand by delivering its culture through the
design of its product. As one of its principles, recycling is vital in MUJI's production,
which leads to the careful selection of materials. The other two principles are reducing
production and packaging waste (Aaker, 2010). The three principles are the standards
for how they examine their products. MUJI aims to provide people with products full
of the philosophy of simplicity, and further deliver its unique attitude towards life and
the universe.
4.2 Challenges in MUJI's international management
4.2.1 Cross-cultural Issues
According to the comments made by MUJI's employees on Glassdoor (2021), we can
find that people in different regions judge MUJI differently. Compared to others,
MUJI Japan seems to have the highest reputation among employees. However, in
other regions, negative comments show up. For example, in MUJI London, many
employees mention that although they agree with MUJI's culture, they still regard
working there as dull and lacking passion. This kind of culture results in an
uneventful and prosaic working environment. Tasks like refolding clothes and
straightening items to keep the environment clean and tidy follow the philosophy of
MUJI. However, they are considered meaningless for some of the employees. They
can hardly experience culturally diverse, and slow days are the toughest for the job in
the stores.
[Link] Interpersonal skills
Another drawback of MUJI for employees out of Japan is the way they communicate.
For example, some employees believe managers have an inner circle feel, and when
someone becomes a manager, they have the right to perform something outside of
work. Employees cannot talk to co-workers if it is not work-related, even when there
are no customers. However, managers talking to each other or part-timers about non-
work-related topics are acceptable. Besides, the employees feel that if the store
manager did not like them, they would expect bad treatment or be ignored. What is
more, they think the communication with head office to store level is inadequate and
inefficient.
[Link] Global Teams
In MUJI, most of its organization structure abroad are a team of local employees
leading by a Japanese superior. The superior does not often show up in the workplace
and usually executes in their office to set goals and assign overall tasks. The
employees typically only include ordinary employees called "sales associates" in
retail positions and store managers. The former will perform according to the
instructions by the latter. However, it is criticized for lacking precise and proper task
assignments. Some think that the head office is useless, for they do not have a clear
plan. If they do, it changes constantly. Besides, with a relatively low salary,
employees need to work for long hours and learn many product knowledges, which is
not simple for there are too many departments and various products. Some employees
said they had to tolerate incompetent co-workers frequently. At the same time, the
management is rigorous, while the incentive for the future at MUJI is not enough.
Moreover, it provides very little room for growth opportunities and not many benefits
either as a part-timer.
[Link] MUJI culture's globalisation
At present, the way of MUJI to promote the globalization of corporate culture is
transplantation mode, which embeds each culture rigidly together. They plan to stay
original in the host countries and remain their style. On the surface, it is a complete
cultural system, but it is still a simple patchwork of different cultures, and mutual
exclusion still exists.
4.2.2 Multinational management
[Link] Strategy
MUJI is not universal in terms of market and can only adapt to countries or cities with
high consumption power. Take IKEA as an example, whose price is lower than MUJI,
but the service is also considerate. Therefore, the price is higher than the same type of
products is MUJI a common reason. Moreover, MUJI made strategic mistakes and
expanded too rapidly in the early stage of globalisation (Kanai, 2018). The weakening
of the brand and the concept of "reasonable cheap" gradually fade away. In the
process of rapid expansion and expansion of companies, managers lose the sense of
crisis. External factors, the rise of competitors also let MUJI's market position is
greatly challenged.
In terms of internal management strategy, MUJIGRAM is a management handbook
for MUJI to improve the organization's execution. The manual records in detail the
working methods of large and small, such as greeting in the morning, the way of
folding clothes, and the way of window design. It is undeniable that the meticulous
details in the manual effectively reduce the probability of employees going astray.
However, there is still constant criticism about the handbook, such as eliminating
diversity and innovation, follow out-of-date patterns, and offering too much
constraint.
[Link] Structure
Some problems do lie in the current internal structure of MUJI. First, the positions are
minimal. In stores, there are only positions for sales associates and managers.
However, one store may have more than one manager in charge of the same group of
employees. This kind of management will cause trouble communicating and reduce
work efficiency. A case in [Link] describes that two managers both called one
employee to check her availability. However, she had already sent all necessary
documents to the assigned email address, which still result in the wrong schedules
they put her in. We can find the lack of communication between the managers and the
disorder in the arrangement. Besides, managers never make specific plans. They
typically only set daily selling targets in the morning and spend the rest of the day
keep an eye on the employees to correct their behaviour. They prohibit
communication between ordinary employees during work time, which causes that
many employees feel stressed and quickly bored. Thus, their job performance will be
inadequate over time.
[Link] System
Organizations are sociotechnical systems. MUJI performed well in technical areas but
still needs progress in social systems relating to human elements. For example, the
lack of proper training programs hinders developing the employees' skills to adapt to
different functional areas. What is more, the daily operation of stores ignores the
needs of their employees, which will harm their enthusiasm.
4.2.3 Corporate social responsibility
[Link] Ethics
MUJI obeys its code of conduct. However, being in the complex international context,
cross-national differences in ethical perspectives consistently impact its behaviour.
Take the Xinjiang cotton issue as an example. When western retailers, including
H&M and NIKE, were under intense criticism from Chinese consumers for the
announcement of rejecting Xinjiang cotton, MUJI showed an ambiguous position on
the use of Xinjiang cotton for their products. It released a statement that said it was
"taking all necessary steps to respect human rights and manage labour standards" in
its use of organic cotton. Chinese people do not believe the western's accusation of
subjecting Uyghurs to forced labour. It seems that the company regards China as a
critical market and does not want to lose it, so they will not take any actions to
infuriate their customers. Thus, products described as being made with Xinjiang
cotton are on sale via MUJI's website in China but are not featured in its online stores
in Japan and other regions (RURIKA, 2021). This contradictory behaviour is a
performance lacking an insistence on ethics.
[Link] Sustainability
The global popularity of green design has brought consumers a new concept of green
consumption. People began to pay attention to the ecological environment. MUJI
established its green design style very early. Last century, MUJI started to remind
people to remove all unnecessary processing and colours to appreciate the beauty of
primitive quality and materials. MUJI packaging primarily uses the original
ecological materials, make full use of the natural properties of raw materials, and
design around environmental protection and consumer health on the premise of
meeting the functional needs of products. For example, the paper packaging of MUJI
products will use environmentally friendly and unbleached paper. The light brown
paper packaging gives people a purer and more natural feeling than the bleached
paper, which conforms to sustainable development.
However, even though MUJI has incorporated considerable sustainability principles
into its operation, there are still some criticisms. First, many products are mainly
made of unsustainable materials, especially plastics. Second, outsourcing is a very
controversial strategy. Most MUJI manufacturing is carried out in some developing
countries. Finally, the company's corporate social responsibility initiative on the
Internet is still not convincing, and a lot more needs to be done to realize its corporate
social responsibility statement.
5. Advice for managers to solve the challenges
5.1 Cross-cultural management
5.1.1 Constructing a unified Company values System
Take IKEA as an example. IKEA calls its products "democratic design," which is
simple, beautiful, and affordable. The fundamental core of IKEA's democratic spirit is
"alliance with customers." IKEA has repeatedly stressed that every product of IKEA
embodies the business philosophy of "for the majority." In IKEA, the first lesson for
new designers is to understand "IKEA's language" before designing. When IKEA
develops new products, it will let the front-line market personnel participate in the
design process to help them better understand the needs of customers. In addition, a
large part of IKEA's product designers come directly from the retail department and
have the experience of dealing with customers directly, so they have a better
understanding of customers' needs.
5.1.2 Strengthening cross-cultural training
To prevent and solve cultural conflicts, cross-cultural is an effective way. Meanwhile,
employees can gain insight and learn more about their companies during this process.
Focusing on providing pure technical training to employees instead of paying
attention to the cultural aspect becomes common worldwide, especially in the training
program for managers (Caprar, 2015). Typically, the training contents include the
following parts: first, the knowledge and understanding of the parent company's
culture and vision. Then, the cultural sensitivity and adaptability training, mainly
including the introduction to the company's language and customs. Besides, an
improvement in intercultural communication training is also essential. Also, they will
design training to introduce other party's management style, discussing their advanced
methods and inner business philosophy to see what are worth learning. There may be
training to improve the ability to handle conflict as well. On the one hand, the training
series is comprehensive and systematic, successfully conveying necessary cultural
information. Employees can better understand a culture's values, ethics, customs, and
other informal institutions, which can lead to the reduction of conflicts. On the other
hand, cross-cultural training also helps employees prepare for the actual working
situation, developing their cultural competence and interpersonal skills necessary to
communicate with co-workers and customers. Employees can also learn how to
respect another culture and accept the differences peacefully.
5.1.3 Following the MBI model
As Maznevski and DiStefano (2000) suggested, the managers can consider following
a model called MBI, which means they should have the ability to map, bridge, and
integrate. Map means they need to understand the differences, describe different
perspectives correctly, construct cultural orientation frameworks, and pay attention to
gender, personality, and other factors. For MUJI, they need to decide what obstacles
prevent them from delivering their spirit and gaining insight acceptance towards
foreign employees. Bridge means they should be able to communicate across the
differences. Prepare with motivation and confidence, decentre without blame and
recentre to commonalities. Integrate means they need to manage the differences,
including engaging participation, resolving conflicts, and build on all ideas. In terms
of the problems mentioned by employees, MUJI can consider this model to make
improvements.
5.1.4 Strengthening cross-cultural integration
Cross-cultural integration means learning widely from others' strong points through
various effective integration methods. Moreover, through the cross-cultural
integration of companies, different cultures in companies can be contacted
appropriately, exchanged, and penetrated to form a new company culture system
suitable for the cross-cultural development of companies (Marchand, 2018). After the
integration, the new company culture system is not a simple sum up before
integration, but from many cultures that can be universally accepted and recognized
by others, extracting the essence and integrating it effectively.
5.2 Managing change
5.2 1 Change in strategies
First, in terms of competitive forces, MUJI can adopt proper methods to better orient
its position in the market. For example, it will be wise to isolate their operation far
from the competitive forces to avoid straight competition. Trying to affect the
industry's competition rules according to their interests, then launching appropriate
competition actions to enhance their market position and competitive strength.
Besides, MUJI needs to focus on brand building, which is gradually formed over time.
The business model may change with the development and no longer applicable, but
once the brand occupies the user's mind, it will not be easy to change. Therefore, we
should pay attention to increasing brand exposure. For example, they should not open
shops in the suburbs because of the desire for cheap rent. They should find relatively
cheap shops in the downtown area, improving the brand value and increasing brand
exposure. Moreover, finding the way to deliver its brand philosophy considers the
local situation and cultural differences.
5.2.2 Change in structure
Although MUJI is a retail company, they can still learn from the matrix organization.
For example, on the one hand, all the employees have one top boss, who is the
supervisor from Japan and in charge of human resource management. On the other
hand, in daily work, they can select functional managers to manage specific tasks.
Tasks assigned to the same manager should belong to the same category, such as
selling tasks, behaviour tasks, and attendance tasks. This way, it will be more
straightforward and efficient for the employees to carry out their work and be more
convenient for internal communications, resulting in better job performance.
5.2.3 Change in system
MUJI can consider adopting one essential strategic means in the localization of
multinational companies, which is to realize the localization of talents, for talents are
the basis of innovation and progress-achieving. Mastering talents is conducive to their
future development. Possessing talents from all over the world is an advanced strategy
for multinational companies to implement globalization. Take IKEA in China as an
example. They have a more comprehensive range of job positions at different levels
and attract Chinese talents to join in more complex tasks. They can develop more task
types and set reasonable goals according to the actual situation, rather than only
telling ordinary employees to reach a specific selling target.
5.3 Adhering to principles
Remain true to their original aspiration about minimalist, environmentally-friendly
materials and good-quality needs MUJI to resist the temptations and short-term
benefits. Based on their code of conduct, the managers need to develop sustainable
approaches to every aspect of MUJI, from manufacturing to retailing. Only building
up the image to the public is not enough. They need to perform as they claim so that
the consumers will trust and support them.
6. Conclusion
Starting from the concept of international management, we review the existing
literature in this report. We emphasize the three key issues that bring challenges to
international management and explain the reasons in a general way. Then, taking
MUJI as an example, we analyse the specific challenges that MUJI has encountered in
its international management by applying relevant theories and comparing them to
another company IKEA. Finally, we conclude that the company's internationalization
strategy and implementation points are as follows:
First, improve cross-cultural management. This process has four steps, including
constructing a unified Company values System, strengthening cross-cultural training,
following the MBI model, and strengthening cross-cultural integration.
Second, properly manage changes in strategy, structure, and system. Find the fittest
strategic alignment depending on the context, and manage changes through effective
communications.
Third, remain true to their original aspiration. Although MUJI never emphasizes
brand awareness, it holds the unified design concept, and all its production contributes
to the development of its "No-brand" brand. The materials it uses and the production
process all interpret its brand image. The minimalist, simplicity, and the pursuit of
nature it advocates gains a high reputation by the taste people, which is MUJI's unique
advantage they should remain. Adhering to its three core principles will help them go
further.
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