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Western Influence on Japanese Business Management Essay

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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 …show more content…

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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