Internet shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc. is in the process of making all formal internal meetings spoken in English to boost overseas sales, a company spokesman said Monday, elaborating on President Hiroshi Mikitani's remarks during an earnings announcement last week.
Corporate officer meetings and board meetings have been conducted in English since January, and all-company meetings every Monday have been in English since March, Rakuten public relations chief Megumu Tanefusa said. All formal meetings at department and section levels will gradually be switched to English, he added.
The company said it is increasing foreign employees, mainly Indians and Chinese. It will hire 100 foreigners fresh out of undergraduate and graduate schools, a sixth of all new hires, next year, he said. It hired 20 such foreigners this year.