Lawson CEO Niinami Leads ‘Best People’ to China
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Lawson Inc. Chief Executive Officer Takeshi Niinami aims to open almost 10,000 stores in China by 2020, selling drinks, food and magazines. To pull it off, the Tokyo-based executive is packing his bags for Shanghai.
As Japan’s second-largest convenience-store operator plans to boost outlets in China more than 30-fold, Niinami, 51, will spend a month in the nation from May and another within less than a year, he said at a media briefing in Tokyo on Dec. 20. Lawson is also training Chinese recruits in Japan to work as store managers in their home country, where the company lags behind rivals Seven & I Holdings Co. and FamilyMart Co.