10 Cultural Contrasts between US and Japanese Companies A Personal View

Characteristic Speed vs. Consistency United States Generally U.S. companys decision making is quick. Superiors give some great leeway to subordinates so that they can decide and make decisions quickly. Unfortunately there are some errors that can come because of that. The U.S. companys roles are very individualized. Contribution of individual is very important as linked to company goals. US Companies focus on Return On Investment (ROI) or the end result. They dont concern themselves on how it is achieved. US companies spend less time establishing their process. If we ask something to achieve for them, theyll say We can do it even they thought they can do it 50-70% probabilities. After they accepted, they try to achieve as close to 100%. Japan Japanese companys decision making is in stages along their corporate hierarchy. Their decisions are very cautious and conservative and sometimes slower than U.S. companies. These stages are backed by plenty of meetings and documentation. This minimizes error and brings consistency at all levels. Japanese companies require individual contribution to the whole group but recognize that the whole group must succeed otherwise the individuals contribution has no meaning. Japanese also focus on ROI, however, they emphasize the process on how to get there. For example, they evaluate how to create the process for the project so that they regard the cost including the value of establishing the process in total. If the Japanese feel that its possible to achieve most likely 100%, they dont say Yes. Their agreement is careful because they want to be accurate. They make sure it is exactly 100%What the Japanese say is important. If they are not right it will reflect bad on them. Basically a Japanese company is organized by Japanese. Almost everyone has same background to realize the situation so some of the understanding is in unspoken words. This is one of the important

Roles & Responsibilities for Individual vs. Group ROI of Revenues vs. ROI of Relationships

Risk Takers vs. Risk Adverse cultures

Heterogeneous vs. Homogeneous cultures

Since U.S. is multicultural, the company is consisted of a plenty of nationalities, which means there are so many different way to think. Almost the all situations, they dont

progress without say anything. Time Spent Collaborating vs. Collaborating Time Spent Remote vs. Face-toFace communications Loose vs Structured Working Styles US companies aim to do meetings efficiently as much as they can. The meetings are fewer and less time. If meetings are too plenty the people seem to resist them. Contacting clients by email or on the phone seems to be more natural in conducting business relationships. Basically the working style is almost the same as Japan. It is very flexible, where working from home is very normal. They have a cubicles for each employee which focuses on a persons independence-high walls, isolation, and spaciousness. The 401k is entirely sponsored by employee salary with the exception of matching funding by companies. This system is one of the things that does not encourage people to stay with companies. One exception is the pension systems in the US. Family and personal time is the priority in the US. Work-Life balance is a must. There is some socializing outside of work but not as a group.

communication skills in Japan. Meetings are very common in large companies. They value the process to agree with everyone who is related to their project, so they have many meetings and spend a lot of time in meetings. They respect meeting each other face to face. It is important to them for conducting business relationships. Most Japanese companies work regular office hours and they dont permit working at home. The work environment is set like a school class where the head of the department is at the top of a row of desks. There are group oriented- no walls, no cubicles and closeness. Japanese are encouraged to stay in one company by the monetary rewards. These are company sponsored payments independent of the persons salary. The longer they stay the higher the company sponsored payout is to them. In Japan, priority is on the work life. It is given work is the center of life. There are many traditions that reenforce this. A newcomer to the company, hold the place for Hanami to enjoy the cherry blossom in Spring for drinking with co-workers. Also a common after-work event is Nomikai (drinking party) and is used as a very important opportunity to communicate with each other for work.

Self-Sponsored vs. CompanySponsored Retirement Rewards

Personal Life vs. Professional Life