Essential Explorations at MUJI

Tomomichi  Amano; Das  Narayandas

Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | February 2020

Essential Explorations at MUJI

Abstract

Launched as a private brand in 1980 to counter the increasingly brand-conscious consumer in Japan, MUJI offered beautifully designed, fairly priced, no-frills quality goods. The once modest private label brand with 40 products had expanded significantly by 2019 to more than 7,000 products with more than half its 975 stores outside its home market in Japan. It had even expanded into the service industry, opening hotels. President Matsuzaki of Ryohin Keikaku, MUJI’s operating company, was charged with reorganizing the product portfolio and prioritizing new initiatives, tasks complicated by the absence of a clear definition of “MUJI-ness,” the meaning of which had always been intentionally left open.

Keywords: product portfolio management; Brands and Branding; Product; Management; Change Management; Mission and Purpose; Retail Industry; Japan;

Language: English

Format: Print

14 pages

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Citation:

Amano, Tomomichi, and Das Narayandas. "Essential Explorations at MUJI." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 520-050, February 2020.

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Essential Explorations at MUJI

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