Japan: Myths & Realities

• It is a assembly of people(sha-in) or member.• Stockholders are considered as wealthy people & moneylenders• Employees are given more priority than shareholders• Employee first move from lowest to highest level.• Managing directors are not mentioned in Line organization charts, still

these corporations can react to changing environment much more readily than western counterparts.

• Managers are often switched from various areas so that everyone gets equal chance of presidency.

Concept of corporation

• In western countries people are hired according to their job description and if over achiever who will gradually feel unfit and may leave the company. In this way western companies can’t staff over qualified managers they staff below quality managers.

• In Japan job function is loosely defined(overlap) & in western countries tightly defined. [Peter principle]

• Japanese lifetime employment system• Long range planning and tight control kills creativity. Japan relies on

individual for group contribution & initiatives for improvement and innovation.

• Japanese management approach: Quality circle, suggestion box, promotion by tenure. An employee is utilized to extent of his creative & productive capacity.

• McNamara syndrome: tremendous emphasis on brain power. Like B school graduate with pay of retiring blue collar worker.

• Education system focuses on harmony & discourages super performer & in West they focus on individualism.

• In West lack of job ethic, frequent job hopping by skilled worker• Japanese Govt promoted steel and gave subsidy and then promoted vlsi• Govt acted as coach rather than a leader.

• CHANGING THE BATTLE GROUND• Marketing: Japanese avoided going global at once, they

started testing out in few south asian countries & few US cities. They started as trading company to dealer-> distributor to OEM .(Canon, Pentax, Panasonic)• Technology: Breakthrough in VLSI technology, helped

them in various areas like industrial robots, videotape recorders, electron microscope etc. They have specialsied technology in fermentation (MSG)• The success reciepe: Awarness of resource limitation,

value design and zero based production.(Honda desiging plant & car simultaneousy to be comoetative against toyota & nissan.)