Shiseido's FOCUS project replaced 20-plus core systems with one global platform
Started in 2019, the ERP standardization drive hit 86–89% standardization across Asia, China and Japan, ending gut-feel decisions at Shiseido.
What was changed
Before 2019, Shiseido ran different core systems in different countries — more than 20 varieties for production, inventory, HR and accounting — with mismatched data formats and definitions producing persistent inconsistencies. CITO Akinori Takano's interviews with country management found the cost: demand forecasting and production planning ran late, and because manual number-matching took so long, decisions defaulted to intuition. 'Looking at the data takes so long that judgment goes by feel first, and the supporting numbers arrive afterward,' he said.
The answer was FOCUS — 'First One Connected and Unified Shiseido' — launched in October 2019 to standardize accounting, logistics and other core systems worldwide while reforming business processes at the same time. The goal is one platform running the value chain from product development through production, logistics, marketing and sales, with master data for products and materials in a single global schema, so any employee doing the same job anywhere works on the same system. Shiseido operates in about 120 countries and regions, over 60% of sales overseas, with roughly 35,000 system users.
By October 2023 the standardization rate — the share of end-user transactions running uncustomized on the standard system — was 89% in Asia, 88% in China and 86% in Japan. Takano attributes the level to governance: because FOCUS is Shiseido's top IT project, each country's leadership reports progress and direction continuously so the overall policy holds. 'FOCUS is not merely a system transformation project. It is a business transformation project,' he said.
Why it worked
Twenty-plus national systems meant data definitions diverged until no two regions' numbers could be compared without manual stitching.
Slow data made decision-making 'feel-first' across the management layer, which no amount of analytics spend fixes upstream.
Pairing system unification with simultaneous business-process reform prevented the classic failure of new ERP running old workflows.
Executive governance — every country leadership reporting progress on one top project — kept customization pressure down and standardization rates up.
What can be applied
Global standardization is a business transformation wearing an IT costume: unify the data definitions and local management can finally see the same numbers.
Aftermath
As of the October 2023 Nikkei Crosstrend feature, FOCUS remained Shiseido's flagship IT program, with high-80s standardization across its three biggest markets and micro-level work continuing on unifying master data so managers worldwide analyze one consistent dataset. The company frames the platform as the foundation for spotting shifts in market conditions and customer needs quickly and executing strategy on shared numbers.