Decision-Making & Japan

As commercial, cultural and political links continue to grow, this book aims to bridge the gap between western and Japanese business cultures. The author shows that western individualism and Japanese groupism or corporatism are not necessarily incompatible, or mutually exclusive.
The gap between western and Japanese business cultures in particular, and cross-cultural exchange in general, must be bridged further, as the pressure to extend commercial, political and cultural links continues to grow at an accelerated rate. The gap relates to assumed beliefs and value-systems, (by both sides) and the point about understanding in this context is that the beliefs and values are most often expressed and tied into the processes of decision-making; thus, to misunderstand the assumptions and deep-rooted social parameters that are inherent in the processes of decision-making by Japanese is to inhibit progress and add to the so-called "frustration factor" frequently experienced by western business people. The author also points out that the Japanese company in many ways mirrors the Japanese family with its ranking order, its understanding of place and status, obligation and loyalty. This brings about a number of what could be called non-transferable elements (uniquely expressed within Japanese culture), such as group consciousness, vertically based egalitarianism and the need to maintain corporate harmony.
In the final analysis, through a series of case-studies and research involving over 100 Anglo-Japanese and Japanese companies in Japan, Europe and Asia, the author shows that western individualism and Japanese groupism or corporatism are not necessarily incompatible or mutually exclusive - provided both cultures are aware of the need to build a bridge that links up from both sides.