...the western ideas of doing business seemed to have greater possibilities and more freedom to move around. These are the reasons why western values become more and more important in the Japanese life and bit by bit affected the traditional Japanese values. 2. How might Japan’s changing culture influence the way Japanese businesses operate in the future? What are the potential implications of such changes for the Japanese economy? The generation born after 1964 has other new views how to act with a company. Nowadays the employees feel more important for themselves, for example for their career, than for the company. The new generation will make individual effort and won’t work for a greater good of their company for all employees. Therefore companies has to change their programs of benefits. They have to support individual performance stronger and don’t base it in a seniority pay system and reconsider about the sense of the rest of the benefits given to every employee as a part of the Confucian values. 3. How did traditional Japanese culture benefit Matsushita during the 1950s - 1980s? Did traditional values become more of a liability during the 1990s and early 2000s? How so? The traditional Japanese culture was one of the main reasons of Matsushita’s success during the 1950s – 1980s. Thereby Matsushita took care of employees from the cradle to the grave and they offered their company life-long loyalty and hard work, known...
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...the western ideas of doing business seemed to have greater possibilities and more freedom to move around. These are the reasons why western values become more and more important in the Japanese life and bit by bit affected the traditional Japanese values. 2. How might Japan’s changing culture influence the way Japanese businesses operate in the future? What are the potential implications of such changes for the Japanese economy? The generation born after 1964 has other new views how to act with a company. Nowadays the employees feel more important for themselves, for example for their career, than for the company. The new generation will make individual effort and won’t work for a greater good of their company for all employees. Therefore companies has to change their programs of benefits. They have to support individual performance stronger and don’t base it in a seniority pay system and reconsider about the sense of the rest of the benefits given to every employee as a part of the Confucian values. 3. How did traditional Japanese culture benefit Matsushita during the 1950s - 1980s? Did traditional values become more of a liability during the 1990s and early 2000s? How so? The traditional Japanese culture was one of the main reasons of Matsushita’s success during the 1950s – 1980s. Thereby Matsushita took care of employees from the cradle to the grave and they offered their company life-long loyalty and hard work, known...
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...This case study made it very attention-grabbing because of the hiring process or practices by Panasonic Company, and how this hiring practices change throughout the time. It is very apparent the there is a change in culture and also change the way Matsushita run their business. The case study starts out by giving a picture of how Panasonic by tradition took care of its employees, containing providing affordable housing, seniority-based pay systems and an assured retirement bonus. With all these benefits most of the employees stay to the company for life and provided dedication and loyalty. As time went on, however, new generation or younger workforces weren’t so anxious on compelling to old-style Japanese beliefs as their blood relation and not looking for long term but instead were much more contented with higher salaries at the times. Lastly, Panasonic went through some irregular periods, namely in the 1990’s and 2009. These coarse periods steered Matsushita to turn back to its longstanding views of employee faithfulness, and it closed factories that resulted in laying off 15,000 employees and for me the most shocking is 7,500 of these employees are in Japan. A change in customary beliefs or values started to arise in Japan as the group born after 1964 happening to come of age. This generation embraced or keener of the Western customs and repelled many of the values shared by their parents. Numerous observed as distressed companies defaulted on lifetime service dedication or...
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...Japanese changing culture Rough draft to question 3 Japan has come a long way since the horrible memory of defeat ‘World War II’. The post war struggle generation clung to their fifth century culture and ideas of rebuilding Japan. In less than sixty years Japan rose again to one of the world’s powerful nations largely from providing electrical/electronic products to most of the globes countries. The type of culture that facilitated Japan to hold onto its people and acquired knowledge and become consistently stronger each year was that of Confucian beliefs. Confucian values are essentially derived from three ingredients which are high moral conduct and loyalty to others, reciprocal obligations to show appreciation of network involvement, and honesty in dealing with others. Confucians are not interested in the Supreme Being or after life like that of Hindu or Buddhism, Confucius’s are more concerned with what is happening now and how they interact with others in the course of their life. Loyalty to a superior in Confucian society was long considered a sacred duty, a lifelong obligation. This loyalty is not blind, like the subordinates loyalty to the superior similarly the superior is required to reciprocate the showing of loyalty to the subordinate in some way of relevance to the subordinate. If the superior fails to reciprocate the favors then the superior will most definitely suffer lost of moral standing in the community and networks which they might be involved with. ...
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...Subject: Matsushita and Japan’s Changing Culture Question #1: What were the triggers of cultural change in Japan during the 1990s? How is the cultural change starting to affect traditional values in japan? Answer: Some triggers that started the cultural change in japan were; the spread of Western ideas making their ways felt, possibilities in the areas with the Western ideas seemed greater, and the Japanese economy prolonged economic slump. The change is affecting cultural whereas workers are not willing to be “salary-men” anymore and no longer want to be with one company for the entirety of their working career. Question #2: How might Japan’s changing culture influence the way Japanese businesses operate in the future? What are the potential implications of such changes for the Japanese economy? Answer: The changing culture is going to change the Japanese business operations dramatically. One reason why is that companies are going to start hiring less workers because of the increasing age and employment time of the current employees. It will also cause companies to adapt quicker to the changing trends of the consumer. Implications that could be added to help companies with the changing culture would be to get a jump on what they think would be the next trend so they will not be left behind. Another one that could be added would be good retirement benefits so that employees won’t stay with the company all their and will want to retire. Question #3: How did traditional...
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...product supply and sales and marketing capabilities. In 1984, P&G’s CEO Ed Artzt convinced the board that Japan was strategically important and that the organization had learned from its struggles. Artzt appointed Durk Jager as the new GM to run this initiative in Japan. By implementing a program called Ichidai Hiyaku, he was able to analyze the causes of P&G’s failures in Japan. He first observed that the company was not recognizing the distinctive culture of Japanese consumers specifically and were also not acknowledging the innovative capabilities of their competitors. Jager persuaded P&G to increase their research and development team from 60 people so they could be up to par with its competitors. Following these efforts, more changes were to come in P&G’s Japan market research, advertising and distribution, resulting in a 270% increases in sales and 62% reduction in unit production costs. In the early 1990s, however, P&G Japan’s strong performance began eroding. The problems began when Japan’s “bubble economy”...
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...Case 3 – Panasonic and Japan’s Changing Culture 1. What were the triggers of cultural change in Japan during the 1990s? How is cultural change starting to affect traditional values in Japan? The triggers to Japan changing culture came by way of the “new kids on the block” thinking and becoming more focused on individualism than collectivism. Those participating in the new Japan no longer believe in the Japan is moving towards more individualism than collectivism after the economic bubble. Nonetheless, this is a good opportunity for Japan to adapt to the globalization world and be more competitive. The cultural change will lead to greater mobility of employees, which means people will move around jobs more than before 1.What were triggers of culture change in Japan during the 1990s? how is cultural change starting to affect traditional values in Japan? Cultural change in Japan was triggered by the economic recession in the 1990’s. Traditional Confucian values focused on loyalty, high moral and ethical values and set the pathway for relationships with others in traditional Japanese businesses. When the generation born after 1964 lacked the same commitment to traditional Japanese value as their parents but they grew up in a world that was richer, where western ideas were beginning to make themselves felt, and where the possibilities seemed greater. They did not want to be tied to a company for life, they become a salary man. Traditional ways of doing business and...
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...with 377,835 sq. kilometers and an estimated population of a little over 127 million inhabitants, it is known as an economically powerful an stable country. Japan’s economy is among the 3 largest economies worldwide and is the second most technologically powerful economy. From a cultural perspective Japan has strong cultural values greatly influenced by Confucianism and western cultures. When analyzing Japan from Hoftede Cultural dimension point of view it is clear that is low power distance culture with high collectivism, high masculinity, high uncertainty avoidance, and long-term oriented. This tendencies are reflected in marketing practices and consumer behavior, it also has a great impact on management as long-term oriented employment, high uncertainty avoidance, and long-life employment are expected from both employers and employees. Also managers have to be aware there is preference to local and high quality products, however there are some entry barriers and large competitors. After TRU started its international expansion in 1984 it had to rapidly learn to adapt to different competitive retail situations that it entered. The main cultural barrier TRU faced when entering the Japanese market was a cultural employment obstacle, due to the high uncertainty avoidance and long-term oriented characteristic of the culture there were challenges in...
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...When Cultures Collide Abstract This review of literature will examine some of the more prevalent complications that tend to arise with cultural diversity in the workforce, primarily between Japanese and Western English speaking cultures. The author will convey first hand knowledge and experiences, supported by case studies and documented research in an attempt to recognize some of the more problematic areas of concern that many Western English speakers and Japanese non-native English speakers face during simple interaction at work, as well as in social settings. If anyone has had the opportunity to spend any length of time in Japan, they are immediately drawn to just how dissimilar the Japanese and American cultures really are. It is one thing to read about it in a book, or to be able to recognize some of the key differences depicted in accurate portrayals of Japanese society in films, but to experience it first hand is quite another. The fact is, Japanese culture is about as foreign to Western eyes and ears as humanly possible. Every aspect of verbal language, and of course written languages (which there are three of, by the way) is completely alien to us. Certainly, if anyone is fortunate enough to be able to witness these unique differences from a first hand perspective while visiting Japan, they will have no choice but to try and adapt and take onboard customs and traditions that may very well feel quite awkward...
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...Employees will be staffed around the country in management positions. All of these managers will be promoting the headquarters cooperate culture. We will be promoting our corporate culture while still being sensitive to the host company overall culture when it comes to business itself. The employees will have a strong working knowledge the company’s policies and procedures. This is a great way for our company to start off globally. In the beginning it makes sure that our company’s vision is not derailed by other countries values (Johnston, 2012). Later on in expansion a more local approach can be looked into. When comparing France and Japan I would choose France. When looking at the data I can see that even though Japan had a higher entry salary, Japan has a higher cost of living than France. In 2008 France had a higher pay increase than Japan. Another attractive thing is that people working in France get 5 more days off in the year than Japan (Bhagat, Kashlak, & Phatak, 2012). When looking at the perks for both countries I can see how Japan’s perks could look more interesting because of the extra money provided but that all depends on the size you tour family. I personal y will take the extra 5 days off with lower cost of living and the perks that France provides. I believe that the common mistake in when dealing with different cultures is managing the diversity. The diversity can come in the different forms such as managing the differences between men and women....
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...Introduction Culture has a major influence on international and local businesses. Firms today have to deal with the reality of cultural diversity not just on the international business scene but also within their organizations. Understanding this diversity and successfully interpreting it helps to realize and take advantage of the opportunities provided by globalization. Analyzing the cultures of triumphing companies and countries helps to compare, contrast and learn from their path to glory. Based on these facts, this research paper will study three different successful electronics companies from three different countries/cultures. These are Apple Inc. of USA, Samsung Electronics of South Korea and Sony Corporation of Japan. Apple and Sony Corporation are both involved in many types of business activities and Samsung Electronics is part of a larger multinational conglomerate (Samsung group) which comprises numerous affiliated international businesses. However due to size and commonality of products, this research will focus on their electronics business with specific attention to Mobile devices (Smartphone and mobile computing devices). This research paper will briefly touch up on the activities of the three companies and how cultures of their respective countries influence their corporate culture, management style and overall business activities. The purpose of such research is to analyze the corporate culture of each company in relation to their respective country of origin...
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...rest of Asia, but were also very curious and willing to learn. After missionaries started arriving to Japan, their influence was considered disruptive and a limited accessibility was allowed. Europeans seemed dirty to the Japanese, which were used to daily bathing as a purification ritual. The main ports of trade were located in Nagasaki, Osaka and Edo. Japan was in a process of recent reunification and reestablishing order in social, political, and international relations. After observing the colonization of the Philippines by the Spanish, the Japanese political leaders were suspicious of the missionaries, regulating the missionary activity (page 247). Japanese leaders then proceed to prohibit trade with Western nations, reaffirming Japan's relations with China. Impact of Spanish trade on Nagasaki. Nagasaki as a commercial port in Japan suffered the same effect as Asia with the incursion of Europeans, especially Spanish. The natural curiosity of the Japanese people opened the doors to Europeans (Spanish) which eventually will be...
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...University Cultural Sensitivity Japan is the country that I chose to write my essay on. I chose Japan because I am fascinated by the Japanese culture and art. I also like the Japanese customs and their traditional way of dressing. Besides being able to communicate with one another due to a language barrier, cross-cultural issues, such as behaviour, beliefs, values and religion are other challenges that my impact Company A’s marketing approach. When it comes to behaviour, Company A must take into consideration what kind of behaviour is acceptable and unacceptable. When it comes to beliefs and values Company A must research the Japanese culture in order to understand how to approach advertising and marketing. Japanese also believe that women should be home taking care of their children and doing housework once they are married or have children. The Japanese, especially when it comes to advertising and marketing gives high regards to their women and may not agree to the way women are exposed in America in regards to advertisements marketing their products or services. Religion is a major factor in the Japanese culture and it places great emphasis on the establishment of business ethics. The Japanese have totally different beliefs are completely different. During meetings and negotiations Company A should be mindful of Japan’s business etiquette and what their gestures mean or represent. Japanese have an effective manner of taking care of business matters, so it will...
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...Conflict between Multi-culture Organizations and How We Can Overcome It Author Institution Globalization has seen many businesses venture into international markets to gain competitive advantage. As a result, they have to set up “shops” in new countries in people have their own culture of doing things. They employ people from these different national cultures, and mostly relocate their managers to run the business. Managing a business entity with a diverse workforce towards achieving a common goal is problematic. People have their own ways (cultures) of doing things. As a result, most managers consult Hofstede’s four-dimension model to manage efficiently. The dimensions are power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, and masculinity/femininity. By observing how different cultures act based on these dimensions, they come up with solutions to solve conflicts. However, Hofstede’s model is not as efficient as perceived by most people across the world. Although Fernandez et al. (1997, p. 52) resonates with Hofstede, he highlights why the managers should exercise caution while using his findings to manage workforce in the modern day life. In his recent study on reexamination of Hofstede’s country classifications, Fernandez et al. (1997) reveals that significant changes have taken place since Hofstede’s original study. He finds out that many of the countries examined in the present study showed a shift in ranking when compared with Hofstede’s initial...
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...Three important cultural interactions from ‘Lost In Translation’: 1. Greeting Scene Bob arrives at the Park Hyatt Tokyo Hotel and is immediately greeted by his Japanese associates. They greet him with gifts and present their business cards instead of the casual handshaking or general conversation making to build rapport. It is evident that this scene demonstrates the honorifics in Japanese communication. This is incredibly crucial in terms of communicating as the Japanese addresses/refers to one another accordingly depending on their position. I find this scene to be interesting as the Japanese always demonstrate a sense of humbleness and respect for one another and expect these customs to uphold even with foreigners who may not yet fully understand what is expected of them. 2. Whiskey Commercial During Bob’s filming of the commercial, it is evident that there is a large language barrier between the director, the Japanese interpreter and himself. The director gives Bob instructions that seem to be incredibly complex and somewhat offensive due to his body language and tone of voice. However, the translator only interprets a few words from the director’s lengthy instructions and Bob becomes incredibly confused. It is evident that this scene demonstrates ambiguity (aimai) as the interpreter may not want to cause offence and conflict between the director and Bob. It also can be said that the interpreter didn’t want to abuse her position as an interpreter by being out...
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