Director, Publishing, Japan

Overall Purpose of the Role

This is an important role within the Disney Consumer Products Publishing/Digital Experiences business, working on retail sales opportunities across the Publishing/Digital Experiences business.

The main priority will be to drive growth of key accounts and new business opportunities for our Publishing/Digital Experiences business in Japan, and maintain close and dynamic relationships with licensing partners so as to maximize opportunities for growth.

In conjunction with global Disney Publishing Worldwide (DPW) global licensing, the position will be developing and implementing short and long-term business strategies, directing the staff to achieve the business plans and communicate with those entities in the region necessary to ensure timely and successful implementation of these objectives.

The role requires the candidate to drive the commercial & operational outcomes for DCP’s Publishing business and growth initiatives.

Ability to deal with ambiguity and to approach the role with an open-minded attitude is extremely critical.

Areas of Responsibility

• Establish and maintain strong working relationships with licensees. Participate as needed in negotiations for new contracts, resolution of operational, financial or marketing issues, and overall business growth for both licensee and DPW.  Ensure full understanding of local market potential through the eyes of the licensee and others.
• In conjunction with APAC Publishing/ Digital Experiences Head, develop short and long-term strategies and business plans including but not limited to 5YP and AOP (as applicable in respective geographic market). This also entails the gathering of intelligence about the market, such as its size, growth drivers, main players, market share, competition, consumer behaviour, product trends and any element that allows to appropriately evaluate its prospects.
• Develop annual and five-year revenue objectives along with accompanying budget projections that ensure desired operating income goals are achieved. Conduct or participate in regular business review sessions with local and global teams where operational performance is analysed against business plans.
• Understand and execute creative consortiums with DPW, DCP, licensees and 3rd Party agencies within Japan. Act as DPW’s representative in the market for coordination and execution of new business opportunities, creative content, and IP.   
• Identify and embrace global product opportunities and oversee their effective adaptation and launch to maximize revenue opportunities from these products. Identify and promote local product development successes to peer Country Heads and creative centres.
• Continuously prospect new business models even outside of the licensing model to increase profit capture and market presence
• Work closely with relevant stakeholders regionally and globally to implement organizational strategies and objectives in Japan. Ensure strong working relationships with regional and global colleagues are developed and maintained.
• Hire, lead, motivate and develop staff to implement local strategies and business plans to achieve targets set from revenue, operating income, market share, budgetary and related goals. Conduct communication sessions as needed (staff meetings, one-on-one sessions, project review meetings, etc.) to ensure staff is supported and receives necessary information and resources to perform their responsibilities in an effective and productive manner.  Practice principles of strong performance management, employee development and delegation to build a solid, high performing team.      
• Attend and participate in cross-divisional task force and synergy meetings to provide and receive support for local product initiatives across Disney divisions to ensure we capture cross divisional support for our products, optimize brand equity and minimize revenue cannibalization among the various Disney products. Ensure DPW is top-of-mind when cross divisional retail opportunities are evaluated and implemented and take active role in determining with licensee’s suitable retail plans for our products in the region

Areas of Accountability

• Reports directly to the Vice President- Publishing/Digital, APAC & MENA
• Accountable for the overall financial targets and managing of P&L of Japan

Experience and Professional Qualifications Required

• Strong commercial and contractual acumen with P/L responsibility management
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, Powerpoint, Word)
• Good understanding of retail and events environments
• Tertiary qualifications in Business/Marketing would be an advantage
• Experience in Publishing, Consumer Products, Media Agency or Licensing in creative content business would be an advantage
• Experience in Digital or e-commerce would be an advantage

Skills Required

• Commercially driven
• Ability to derive insights from data
• Strong leadership qualities
• Strong ability to quickly size opportunities and prioritise accordingly, and ability to juggle conflicting priorities
• Energetic and collaborative
• Well-organised and great time management
• Strong attention to detail
• High degree of flexibility
• Ability to work well within a team as well as independently
• Capable of meeting strict deadlines and dealing with time pressure
• Ability to thrive in a heavily matrixed structure