Analysis of Japanese Business Culture Essay

Since Japan’s exit from isolation and entrance into global, cross cultural exchange, many aspects of the Japanese culture have been shaped and changed from their original traditionalism. Despite Western influence, however, Japan has been able to maintain a sense of cultural identity through unique practices that are rooted in the original culture. A prime example of this autonomy can be found when observing Japanese business culture and ethics, especially when the United States is used as a cornerstone of comparison. In observing the modern business practices of both nations one is immediately drawn to the manner in which business is both discussed and

One of the most important facets for a successful business in the twenty-first century is how it communicates with their customers, partners, suppliers and governments from different countries and cultures from around the world. For a business to operate with any modicum of success in Japan, you must possess a basic understand of how their society functions. As a result of learning about the geography, climate, history, religion, cultural rituals, politics, education system, and the role of the family; it will allow a business or business person the insight needed to understand how society functions and the method in which business is conducted.

Our way of conducting business in the United States works for us, but when doing business in other countries it may not. I decided to look at the way business is done in Japan and how it differs from United States. When doing business in different countries, we would need to do our homework and research Japan. Japan is a country with a rich history and culture. The lack of knowledge about their culture can make doing business very different. We will look at the Japanese culture and how it differs from U.S. culture and the proper way to communicate in a business meeting in Japan.

country and business values. Even the research emphasis on the cultural values, issues related to business that can affect business relations. It also tells about the business styles of Japanese. As compared with Canada it is found that Japanese are collectivists and poly-chronic in nature. Moving on there is no problem related to language as most of the Japanese speak their own native language. In this report it is recommended that Jell-O should do the promotions keeping in mind the family system of Japan. The other main point to be kept in mind before doing business

Japan’s business culture is regarded as one of the unique in the entire world. One of the reason behind their uniqueness is that; Japanese live in long term orientation oriented societies. Japanese see their life as a very short moment in a long history of mankind. They want to do their best in their life time and that is all what they believe in. Japanese live their lives guided by virtues and practical good examples. They all serve the durability of the companies. The idea behind it is that the companies are not here to make money every quarter for the shareholders, but to serve the stake holders and society at large for many generations to come. On the

Sonzai is constructed from 2 words; son and zai. Son means subjective self-subsistence or sustain over time. Zai means that the subject stays in the same places in which the word “places” refers to social places which consist of human relations, such as home, hotel, inn, etc. By putting these two words together, we get sonzai (human existence) which literally means self-sustenance of human relations. Although sonzai looks similar to ningen, they are quite different. Ningen refers to capability of being an individual and at the same time also being a member of a society. To sum up, ningen is mostly explaining about a person as an individual. Sonzai emphasizes the dynamic structure of human being, such as human relations which

is in sharp contrast with the Japanese collectivist nature of working in a group for the company as a whole. The individualistic nature of the Americans also leads to power conflicts among themselves. This is because, when additional responsibilities are given to them, they view it as an extension of their individual sovereignties (because of their thirst for personal achievements and accomplishments) and this leads to power conflicts in the case of overlapping sovereign areas. The Japanese being extremely high on the dimension of ³masculinity´, the job culture is often in contradiction to the American workers who lay equal emphasis to personal life as to professional, and their work life balance is imbalanced. The excessive importance given to dedication and devotion to work can create work stress for the Americans who put ³personal and family happiness first´. This is also evident in their recruitment philosophy: It is the ability, performance and attitude of an individual which is measured in an interview, rather than assigning a pseudo ± status to one owing to the prestige of his degree. This often leads to a communication gap between the Japanese and the Americans, which is literally evident in the meetings and discussions which happen at late hours when the Americans have retired for the day, among the Japanese in their language. Needless to say, this created apprehension in the minds of the Americans but the management tries to rectify the issue by

Japan is the region of the world focused on in this research essay. The author will define culture, and describe Japanese cultural traits with an emphasis on leadership competency. The thesis statement hypothesizes that cultural study and research of specific regions of the world will enable cross-cultural competence and comprehension in leadership roles.

This paper analyses the various aspects of Japanese culture. It describes the differences and distinctiveness of Japanese culture. The main objective of this paper is to understand how Japanese conduct their business. Then the culture of Japan is analyzed according to the models suggested by Edward Hall, Hofstede.In the end there is a cultural profile which guides an American while dealing with Japanese during any business. Due to the technical advancement in Japan many countries are willing to conduct their business in Japan. This paper tries to guide an American during intercultural communication with Japanese. The definition of intercultural communication by Samovar and Porter (2004) emphasizes that a person 's perception of the world around him/her is deeply entrenched in the system of symbols that his or her culture uses to make sense of the world.

Japan is a rather collectivist culture (46 points of 100), in which harmony and group membership are important values. In particular, the company employees feel a strong sense of loyalty, because more time is spent at work than at home with the family and it symbolizes the center

In Japan, business organisations use wa for practice, which is different from China that use guanxi as their practice. Both of them have different use for the organisation but they will provide many benefit to them. The competitive advantage that Japanese’s firm receive from wa or teamwork is actually base on its own characteristics. Wa refer to the value that Japanese give to loyalty and consensus. According to Altson (1989), Wa is the existence of mutual corporation that encourage the employees to put all of their energy and work together to achieve the common goal. Personal interest is disregarded that all of the member in the group need to discard the idea of personal gain before the group benefit. However, this does not mean that members will not receive any benefit from their work but will be rewarded after the group’s goal is achieved. Group membership is more important than specific position. Wa demand employees to work as the team and trust each other during the process. Japanese think that do business with friends is better and having a proper introduction will initiate the business relationship to be established. Contract was viewed as the personal agreement in Japan and it will change when conditions change. Social relationship will be formed through the third parties or mediators who will smooth thing out for both parties and are respected from both of them.

Doing business across continents requires cultural awareness. Cultural awareness involves understanding, appreciating and learning about different cultures where one does business (Ogasawara, 2010). This blog focuses on doing business in Japan, with the aim of outlining the uniqueness of Japanese culture. The areas of focus are greetings and communication style, the concept of time, and personal space and/or eye contact. People often mistake Japanese culture as difficult to understand and an obstacle in doing international business. However, below is an understanding of this culture when it comes to international business.

Culture is a major aspect of daily life, whether it is in personal life or business life. The Japanese look for a community of unity and mutual trust when engaging in many aspects of business, because they were taught from young children to manage themselves harmoniously and cooperatively with others. Many of the Japanese are very conservative in their culture and look for long term stability with trusted partners in business.

The meaning of culture in terms of the business world is a social interpretation or meaningful communication with common ways of transmitting information amongst people. This comes from the understanding that “culture is the way in which groups of people solve problems and reconcile dilemmas” Woolliams, P & Trompenaars, F (2004). Culture as a theory which consists of different levels; the highest level of national or regional society, followed by the corporate or organisational and finally ending with the professional and ethical level.

Another point is that they give authority to local managers in important decision making, which serve customers better. Based on these facts, it is actually not impossible for Japanese companies to be successful in the emerging market. Additionally, it is also argument to overcome cultural distance theory that ‘as the cultural distance increase, the level of investment decreases, the type of investment lower, and the investing firm will not want to cooperate with a local partner’.