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Kawaru Chikara
In 'Kawaru Chikara' (The Power of Change), Toshifumi Suzuki, the visionary behind 7-Eleven, shares his decades of retail wisdom and the transformative journey of building a global convenience empire. Starting from his early days at a publishing company, Suzuki’s career shifted to retail when he joined Ito-Yokado, where he challenged industry norms to launch Japan’s first true convenience store in 1974. He pioneered game-changing strategies: dense store placement to boost brand recognition and logistics efficiency, joint distribution to cut delivery costs, and 'item management'—a data-driven 'hypothesis-execution-verification' cycle to match inventory with customer demand. Beyond 7-Eleven, Suzuki led bold cross-industry moves, like founding Seven Bank to meet customers’ urgent cash needs, and restructured the 7&I Group to unify diverse retail formats. When he acquired the struggling U.S. 7-Eleven parent company, he reversed its decline by empowering frontline staff with ordering autonomy and applying Japanese retail principles. Throughout, Suzuki emphasizes that success comes not from following conventions, but from prioritizing customer needs, embracing change, and never compromising on quality—lessons that redefined global retail.
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