Western Influence on Japanese Business Management Essay
Japanese management: how the western influence and the 1990s crises have modified
management practices in Japan, and in Japanese companies broadly speaking? Introduction
Japan has been the second largest power in the world for several decades, now. As a quite
remote island in Asia, its history and development shaped a country with its own way of
thinking and behaving, and as far as we are concerned, with a great economy and a technological
lead over its Asian neighbours. After the Second World War (WWII), Japan started from scratch,
and its business succeeded very well, first on the domestic market and then on a world scale. In
the 1970s, Westerners were looking at Japan in awe, and tried to know how it could be such a good
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Based on their original religion (Shinto), the cult of the ancestors is widespread and, in Japan,
people are much more respectful of their parents than in Western countries. In the same way,
decision making and socialisation processes are seen very differently, for Japanese will tend to
take much time and involve many people to evolve a plan, but then will implement it directly
and by themselves, with more pleasure than Westerners who are deemed to make quick and
undemocratic decisions, but execute them slowly and indirectly. As a result, Japanese would be
more willing to work and more productive because of their understanding of what a strategy
means: politeness, team work, friendship and harmony are key features of the Japanese culture.
This can be seen in the sense of community which strikes every foreigner: the individual is under
represented whereas the group as a whole is always put on the foreground, hence the famous
obedience and respect of Japanese people. Outcomes of WWII At the end of the Meiji era (19th
and beginning of the 20th centuries), Japan had already experienced an opening and some
misunderstandings with foreign countries (e.g. Perry?s crew). The first half of the 20th century
brought its lot of mishaps, too, and this fostered the spread of hatred and racial doctrines: hakko
ichi u advocates the supremacy of Japan and its people, and
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