Achieve dramatic business growth through partners and agencies. The strategy book "ELG (Ecosystem-Led Growth)" explaining the ELG strategy that reexamines the structure of business growth will go on sale on April 9th
PartnerProp Inc. announced the publication of "ELG (Ecosystem-Led Growth)," a strategy book co-authored by Takumi Inoue of PartnerProp and Toshinari Umeki of Dentsu. The book systematizes the business strategy of growing together with partners and agencies, providing practical methods for redesigning partner utilization as a core strategy for business growth.
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- 📰 Published: April 9, 2026 at 19:00
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PartnerProp Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director: Takumi Inoue, hereinafter: PartnerProp), which provides a PRM (Partner Relationship Management) system as a leading domestic company realizing "partner marketing," announces the publication of the book "ELG (Ecosystem-Led Growth): Business Strategy for Next-Generation Marketing and Sales Organizations Growing Together with Partners/Agencies," co-authored with Toshinari Umeki (Co-Representative of Dentsu B2B Initiative) of Dentsu Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director, President & CEO: Chiyori Matsumoto, hereinafter: Dentsu).
As the limits of direct sales-centric, person-dependent sales systems are being reached, this book focuses on the ELG (Ecosystem-Led Growth) strategy of companies that are growing their business together with external ecosystems, especially partners, and comprehensively organizes the practical methods for doing so. By combining the knowledge of business strategy and partner business accumulated by Dentsu's Umeki with the knowledge PartnerProp has accumulated through its partner business support, the ELG strategy has been systematized as a book for the first time in Japan.
◾️ Background of the Book's Publication
Due to the decline in the working-age population and the difficulty of recruiting sales personnel, direct sales-centric and person-dependent sales structures are reaching their limits. On the other hand, many companies that continue to achieve business growth are shifting toward a growth model that divides roles with partner companies and creates value across the entire ecosystem. However, in Japan, partner business has remained at the level of "agency management" or "commercial flow organization," and the reality is that it has not been systematically organized as a core strategy for business growth. In particular, major manufacturers and B2B companies face the challenge of increasingly complex relationships with existing direct sales organizations and agency networks, making it difficult to redesign partner utilization at a strategic level.
Against this background, this book was written as a co-authorship between Dentsu's Umeki, who has long supported the B2B marketing and sales structures of Japanese companies, and PartnerProp's Inoue, who has been in charge of partner business support. In particular, Dentsu's Umeki is the representative of the "Dentsu B2B Initiative," a specialized B2B project organization composed of 18 Dentsu Group companies, and has a track record of supporting the transformation of numerous enterprise companies. By crossing primary information accumulated in the field with theories and frameworks applicable to major companies and multiple industries, it has been compiled as a practical guide for "ecosystem-led growth" that can be utilized regardless of industry or company size.
▪️ Features of This Book
This book is a practical guide explaining all the processes involved in advancing an ecosystem strategy. In the book, after organizing the background of the era in which the ELG strategy is attracting attention, and based on the authors' experiences, the process model called "ELG MODEL," which is important in advancing the ELG strategy, is unveiled for the first time.
It also specifically explains the set of measures necessary to realize ELG strategies such as partner marketing and PRM, and is full of knowledge that can be put into practice immediately. It is a must-have book not only for those who are struggling with partner business and agency utilization, but also for all business people involved in strategy, marketing, and sales in B2B businesses.
Part 1: New Sales Style Required for Domestic Companies
Why is ELG effective in a market environment premised on a declining population and recruitment difficulties? It explains the management philosophy "ELG," centered on ecosystems within macro sales trends, covering the differences between traditional ecosystems and modern ecosystems popular globally.
Part 2: The Big Picture of ELG: "ELG MODEL"
From partner recruiting to onboarding, activation, and retention, it extracts commonalities among companies producing results through ELG, and systematizes the "ELG MODEL" as best practices. From KPI design to phase design, it presents design philosophies and methods that can be executed with reproducibility, without relying on personal experience or intuition.
Part 3: Planning
It organizes the planning agenda necessary to practice the "ELG MODEL" for realizing ELG. It details the core planning agendas for ELG success, such as the "WHO-WHY-HOW" framework for advancing partner targeting, partner programs, and campaign design for partner marketing.
Part 4: Execution Process
It explains the execution process of measures necessary to realize the ELG MODEL. It includes numerous tips that can be used from tomorrow, detailing what measures should be implemented and in what order, not only for partner marketing but also for partner recruiting, onboarding, activation, and retention.
Part 5: Organizational Structure
This chapter deals with the organizational structure that should be established for realizing ELG, including the division of job types and roles such as partner marketers and partner sales, as well as required skills. It also introduces the latest case studies on how to incorporate such division of labor systems into organizational design.
Part 6: Operations
Amid the recent RevOps trend, it introduces the kind of operations that should be established to put the ELG MODEL into practice. We convey operational models that can be used in actual business, such as batting checks, MDF operations, and rank promotion conditions.
Part 7: The Evolving ELG MODEL
The ELG MODEL is a very important strategic process not only domestically but also in overseas expansion. It summarizes how to advance the ELG strategy when expanding overseas, and how the ELG strategy will spread in Japan.
◾️ Book Overview
Title: "ELG (Ecosystem-Led Growth): Business Strategy for Next-Generation Marketing and Sales Organizations Growing Together with Partners/Agencies"
Authors: Toshinari Umeki, Dentsu Inc., Takumi Inoue, PartnerProp Inc.
Writing Cooperation: Yudai Asai, PartnerProp Inc.
Publisher: Sendenkaigi Co., Ltd.
Release Date: April 9, 2026
Format: Book / E-book
◾️ Author Profiles
Toshinari Umeki (Marketing Consultant, B2B Marketing Consulting Department, 8th Marketing Division, Dentsu Inc. / Co-Representative, Dentsu B2B Initiative)
Belongs to Dentsu Inc. since 2018, having previously worked at a comprehensive human resources company, Cyber Communications Inc., and Dentsu West Japan Inc. In charge of GTM strategy consulting for B2B businesses for over 400 domestic and international companies in manufacturing industries such as materials, semiconductors, industrial robots, and business PCs, as well as SaaS products such as HR, accounting, and security software. Mainly integrates and produces three strategies: 1) product marketing strategy such as B2B branding, 2) sales marketing strategy such as ABM, RevOps, and PRM, and 3) relationship marketing strategy such as community measures. Co-Representative of the "Dentsu B2B Initiative," a cross-organizational team (160 members) of 18 Dentsu Group companies.
Takumi Inoue (Representative Director, PartnerProp Inc.)
Carried out strategy design and promotion for alliances of Air series products like "AirPAY" in Recruit Co., Ltd.'s SaaS business. Realized growth from dozens to thousands of monthly orders. Subsequently experienced launching new businesses as a product manager at the same company. Currently founded PartnerProp Inc., which provides PRM tools that scientifically analyze partner business. Supporting numerous partner businesses from startups to major enterprises, and leading the systematization of the ELG MODEL and partner marketing.
■ About PartnerProp Inc.
PartnerProp Inc. is a startup company that enables the update of "partner channels," operating under the mission "Make Co-creation the Engine of Society." Driving the PRM (Partner Relationship Management) domain, which has grown into a massive market with a global scale of 38 trillion yen, we aim to realize a society that promotes co-creation between companies as a leading company representing Japan.
What is the PRM "PartnerProp" that realizes partner marketing?
To enable all companies to realize partner marketing, our company develops and provides the PRM (Partner Relationship Management) system "PartnerProp." Conventional partner channels, spanning across companies, faced difficulties in "visualizing" partner activity status and creating "mechanisms" to promote sales together with partners.
By utilizing the PRM tool "PartnerProp" provided by our company, these challenges can be solved, leading to expanded results for partner channels and ultimately achieving corporate growth. It is already being widely utilized by various companies from enterprise firms to startups, and has acquired a Leader rating in the PRM category on "ITreview," one of Japan's largest review sites. https://www.itreview.jp/products/partnerprop/reviews
■ 'PartnerProp' Service Page: https://partner-prop.com/
■ "What is Partner Marketing?": https://partner-prop.com/partner-marketing/
Company Name: PartnerProp Inc.
Business Details: Planning, development, and sales of the PRM tool "PartnerProp" Established: May 2023
Representative: Takumi Inoue, Representative Director Headquarters: MIDORI.so 3F, 2-5-3 Hirakawacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Official HP: https://partner-prop.com/