Toshifumi Suzuki

Suzuki brought 7-Eleven to Japan in 1973 as a licence from the American owner, over sceptics who said small shops could not survive against supermarkets. He built the chain on hypothesis-led ordering, with each store's staff placing several orders a day and checking them against sales data, and on frequent small deliveries of fresh food. Seven-Eleven Japan grew so strong that it bought its American parent. He died in 2026.