Understanding Japanese Management Practices

by Parissa Haghirian

Today, Japan is the most influential economy in Asia and the second largest economy in the world. Japanese consumers are among the richest in the world, and the Japanese market still provides profitable investment opportunities. Not only are the Japanese able to adopt Western ideas and techniques without problems but they also maintain a very unique perspective of the world.
Japanese management practices are no exception. And this outstanding new book, Understanding Japanese Management Practices, gives you and other international managers an in-depth look at Japanese management practices and how these can be implemented into Western corporations. It examines the cultural foundations of Japanese management and explains the most famous Japanese business concepts, such as kaizen, just-in-time, and lifetime employment. It then provides practical advice on how to successfully enter and position Western products in the Japanese market. Finally, it provides an advice on how to negotiate successfully with Japanese business partners and reveals what Western managers can learn from Japanese management practices.
Japanese management practices have had an enormous influence on Western management practices over the past few decades. Many Japanese management practices have become a standard in Western firms. This book will undoubtedly guide you through Japanese business practices and how these practices help to improve business processes and to increase quality and efficiency in numerous corporations worldwide. It will also help you learn more about what Japanese management is and how do Japan's management practices differ from those in the West.

Genres: Japan

125 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2010

Reviews

[Mike Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some important notes taken:

1) Stability focus: long-term and people-oriented attitude of Japanese firms could be role models for Western firms. It is about building, and often lifelong, relationships with business partners, customers, and employees. Money is important but not the most important aspect, stability not for themselves but also for all of their stakeholders. The fact is that they managed to shape up during the 90s without dramatic layoffs and social uproar, a task many Western will face both now and in the future.

2) Motivation and dedication to work: very friendly atmosphere, many employees still enjoy lifeline employment; they do not fear losing their jobs; they get paid according to their time; and competition inside the firm is very low. A relaxed and less stressful atmosphere allows all members to dedicate themselves to their tasks. Motivation improved by working in a group and by feeling an emotional connection to it. This group cohesion leads to a lower number of micropolitical problems than in Western business. Various tools are employed to increase the cooperation among employee, e.g. team-building techniques.

3) New product development: may not lead to radical innovations but support the firms in sustaining their competitive advantage as customer oriented manufacturers. New and small ideas being discussed in a circular form within team allow the corporations to integrate consumer ideas from the start of the product development, leading to higher profits and business success.

4) Market and consumer orientation: strong orientation toward clients and consumers. Companies trying to sell their products need to be heard, and they develop increasingly innovative approaches to address their consumers. In Japan, the change of market moving from price competition to quality competition is more obvious than in many other markets. Japanese consumers are expecting the world's best service, and Japanese firms must fully adapted to these wishes, hence provides learning opportunities. Involving consumer in product design and development, adapting products to their tastes and allowing them to get in contact with one another are marketing strategies that could be successfully adopted.

5)iitoko dori: Japanese management practices are actually very diverse, and in almost all business fields, Japanese businesses have developed different, often inspiring, management process. One of major advantages is the fact that Japanese corporations and managers make judgment regarding new ideas or changes in a later stage in the process. They look at innovation and Western ideas from all angles, discuss them with their peers, and then pick the part they find most interesting and promising. After this, the idea or product is "Japanized", which mean it is improved and adapted to suit the Japanese customer or corporate needs. It is called iitoko dori, means picking the best of everything, looking at a new idea or product with open-minded curiosity and choosing the aspects that seem interesting and profitable and disregarding the ones that are not useful. The overall idea of iitoko dori is that looking at the big picture (in our case, Japanese management as a whole) is sometimes less productive than focusing on details (such as specific Japanese management ideas and thoughts), which can provide useful inspirations and lead to business success when implemented (copied) in a new setting or environment

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for an upcoming exam and found it quite helpful to understand japanese economy and management.
The only thing that bugged me was the writing style itself. I'm not a nativespeaker of English myself but the style in which the author writes doesn't "feel" very much like English I usually read, not because it's educational, but because the author herself isn't a nativespeaker.