Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido has announced it will operate under a ‘hub-and-spoke’ system going forwards in order to maximise R&D on a global scale.
Using its Global Innovation Centre in Japan as its hub for basic research, Shiseido will then use regional laboratories as spokes where products and their values will be developed targeted at consumers in each area in order build “genuine emotional connection”. There are currently nine labs in five countries. “It is our goal to deliver the innovative products developed based on the insights and values of our consumers around the world,” Shiseido noted in a release.
With this strategy in mind, Shiseido previously announced the opening of its new Global Innovation Centre research facility in Yokohama, a city south of Tokyo with the operation start date on track for the end of 2018. The innovation centres that already exist in the US, Europe, China and South East Asia will each gradually expand, the company noted.
Shiseido is making ground in the US reopening its expanded US research facility today called the Americas Innovation Center. The improved 2,000sqm facility will house 47 researchers by 2020; as of 29 February this year, there were 25 researchers working on the 600sqm site.
Shiseido said that in addition to the facility’s former functions, the updated Americas Innovation Center will take on new jobs that are currently handled in Japan, such as product information development and claim resolution, product safety assurance and intellectual property management. “The shift allows us to build a closer relationship with consumers in the Americas, namely the US,” Shiseido explained.
