Yakuza: Like a Dragon Business Management Guide

How to Succeed in Like a Dragon’s Ichiban Confectionary/Ichiban Holdings Business Management Minigame

Ready to conquer the business world in “Yakuza: Like a Dragon”? Let’s jump into the Ichiban Confectionery business minigame. It’s a step up from what you might remember in Yakuza Zero, and it’s all about strategy and smart management. Here’s a detailed guide to help you become the top business in Yokohama.

Understanding the Basics

This minigame kicks off in Chapter 5 and revolves around five rounds of business cycles. The fifth round? A critical showdown with shareholders. It’s a mix of strategy and action, with an engaging cycle of planning, investing, and facing off against investors.

Your business’s financial health is separate from your personal in-game funds, but you’ll get some nice bonuses for Kasuga along the way for sure!

Your main investor tasks you with specific ranking goals within set business cycles. These are quite lax, though. For example; at one point, you’ll have 7 cycles to reach Rank 50, but it’s possible in 2-3 cycles with the right properties and employees. A cycle is 5 days; 4 days of business and one Shareholder Meeting.

Dive into the Gameplay

The game’s core is navigating through menus and making strategic decisions. You’ll juggle between different options, each impacting your business’s growth.

Gameplay Options:

• Properties: Here, you assign staff, upgrade facilities, and manage your portfolio of businesses.
• Employees: Recruiting and training your staff is vital. Match them to roles where they shine to boost profits.
• Debts: A risky option for quick cash, but often unnecessary if you manage your finances well.
• Board Room: Prep for shareholder meetings. This is where your strategic choices are put to the test.

Winning Strategies

Start simple with Ichiban Confections, gradually expanding and upgrading as you go. Your initial focus should be on understanding the game’s mechanics.

• Employee Happiness: Happy employees mean better profits. Keep an eye on their morale and reward them when needed. Regularly visit the “Employees” page and press to activate Auto-care, which will ensure all of your employees are happy. Do this every business day.
• Effective Management: Assign employees where they benefit the business most. A good match between employee skills and business needs is crucial. Keep an eye on the gauges available for your allies.
• Balanced Performance: Aim to keep your business stats in the green. Adjust your strategies based on performance metrics. don’t over-spend. Upgrade staff and businesses to keep them profitable. Sell unprofitable businesses. Fire unused employees.

Mastering the Shareholders Meeting

This is where your business acumen is truly tested. Bring a balanced team to answer tough questions and defend your business strategies. Your biggest Ranking Hikes will come from these meetings, and you’ll also get a significant amount of cash to use on your business from these meetings.

Meeting Dynamics:

• Team Selection: Diversity is key. Bring a mix of skills to cover all aspects of business management. You will need a red, blue, and green employee to help you counter questions of each colour (red beats green, green beats blue, blue beats red.)

• Verbal Battles: Respond to shareholder queries with the right employee, turning the tide in your favor.

• Winning: You don’t need to answer every question or satisfy every interrogator, but you will want your Approval Rating in the lower-left to be at 100% or as close to it as possible when the timer at the top of your screen reaches 00:00.

• The Ultimate Apology: You can press to have Kasuga apologize to the investors, stunning them temporarily and refilling your action gauge at the bottom. It is not worth doing this until the gauge in the bottom-right is gold and full. At that point, you can use a level 3 apology, which is great for saving things in the last 30 seconds of the meeting.

• Avoiding Failure: As Shareholder meetings are so important, it can be a bit of a setback to fail one. I recommend exiting the Business Management Minigame to save the game before each key Shareholder Meeting, particularly those which feature minibosses (Eri will warn you about intimidating participants ahead of time).

The Ultimate Business Setup

To maximize your earnings in “Yakuza: Like a Dragon,” it’s crucial to invest in the most profitable properties at each rank. Let me break it down for you, so you know exactly where to put your money and when.

Rank 200 – 151: Building Your Foundation

• Primary Investment: Ichiban Confectionery. Pour your resources into this property. It can bring in over 3 million yen each cycle, using just the basic units provided at the start.
• Strategy: Focus solely on Ichiban Confectionery to accumulate wealth for future investments.

Rank 100 – 51: Expanding Your Portfolio

• Key Properties:
  • Yokodo Bookstore: Maximum Profit 2,189,790 yen
  • Mr. Brillio: Maximum Profit 1,624,330 yen
  • Jibikia Picture Gallery: Maximum Profit 1,673,830 yen
• Employee Strategy: Rely on R and N employees, and concentrate on upgrading your businesses and employees. Employee rank-ups are crucial for successful shareholder meetings.

Rank 50 – 21: Upgrading Your Assets

• Best Investments:
  • Cat’s Servant: Maximum Profit 15,637,400 yen
  • Karaoke GonGon: Maximum Profit 10,486,590 yen
  • White Flag: Maximum Profit 7,863,420 yen
• Management Tips: Swap out less profitable properties for these ones. Continue upgrading facilities and employees, balancing costs and maintaining consistent growth. Start incorporating SR employees, but don’t overlook the value of well-leveled R employees.

Rank 20 – 11: Nearing the Top

• High-Value Properties:
  • Shokichi Camera: Maximum Profit 36,160,0020 yen
  • Takumi Architectural Design: Maximum Profit 35,120,0020 yen
  • Waipu Productions: Maximum Profit 42,800,570 yen
  • PDCA Trading Company: Maximum Profit 40,152,740 yen
• Employee Focus: Start gathering SSR and SR employees, but manage your funds wisely. Keep your employees content and avoid unnecessary debt.

Rank 10 – 1: The Final Push

• Ultimate Properties:
  • Dianthus: Maximum Profit 55,237,830 yen
  • Media Barter: Maximum Profit 44,843,470 yen
  • Grande Blu Marino: Maximum Profit 41,903,930 yen
  • Stonefish: Maximum Profit 40,752,680 yen
  • Industrial Hall Building: Maximum Profit 34,450,960 yen
• Final Strategy: Prioritize upgrading facilities to ensure they run efficiently. SSR employees are ideal, but don’t underestimate the power of a well-upgraded SR or R employee.

Wrapping It Up

There you have it – a comprehensive guide to mastering the Business Management Minigame in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. It’s all about smart planning, understanding your team, and making strategic decisions. Dive in, experiment with different strategies, and watch your business climb to the top!

Once you reach Rank 1, you’ll be able to recruit Eri as an employee! She’s a great addition to the team, especially for Shareholder Meetings, so be sure to scoop her up if you plan to keep playing the Management Minigame. By continuing to play, you can get 3 million yen per Shareholder Meeting for your personal funds outside of the minigame.

Got more questions or need further tips? Drop a comment below, and let’s discuss.