Company Knowledge: Explaining Rakuten's Ecosystem, Business Segments and Strategy

In a product manager interview at Rakuten, the interviewer asks what you know about the company. Give a short, structured answer that shows you understand what Rakuten does, how its main businesses make money and fit together, and where the company is heading. ```hint Lead with what connects the businesses Rakuten runs many services that look unrelated at first glance. Rather than listing them, explain what ties them together and why that link matters both to customers and to the company. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Which part of Rakuten is the role in: the Japanese marketplace, the financial services businesses, the mobile network, or a global business such as the cashback service, Viber or Kobo? - Does the interviewer want a quick overview, or a deeper discussion that includes your own view of the company's challenges? - Should the answer cover Rakuten's businesses outside Japan, or focus on its home market? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - An accurate description of Rakuten's core business and how the company started. - The logic that links the businesses, a shared membership and loyalty points, and how each major segment earns money. - Awareness of current strategic bets and pressures, such as the mobile network and competing ecosystems, discussed with nuance rather than as criticism. - A product point of view drawn from actually using one or more Rakuten services. - A link from that knowledge to the team, the role and the candidate's reasons for wanting to join. ### Follow-up Questions - Which Rakuten business do you think is under the most pressure, and what would you do about it? - If you could change one thing about Rakuten's points program, what would it be and how would you measure the effect? - How does Rakuten's marketplace model differ from Amazon's retail model, and what does that difference mean for a product manager working on it?