1. Business Philosophy
In both Japan and America, a system of motivating or foundational concepts that serves as the foundation for beliefs or behaviors is known as business philosophy. In order to be successful in business, a business must have a strong philosophy. It becomes simpler to construct a productive and unified organization that can handle any obstacles that may occur when managers and employees understand and develop their company's philosophy.
The concept of business philosophy is akin to a company's road plan. It would be hard to try to navigate around a new city without GPS or a map. A person has no idea how to go to other locations or how long it will take to get there. The same example may be applied to a business that lacks a strong business philosophy.
Employees who do not grasp the company's ideals or the goals for which they are striving sometimes feel lost in their everyday activities. As a result, employees are not always productive or deliver the greatest customer service. A business may prevent problems like these by properly communicating its vision and objectives.
A strong business philosophy is built on a foundation of guiding principles, values, and beliefs. It is also necessary to propagate the business philosophy of the enterprise to all employees. Employees need to understand the company's rules, values and goals, from which to strive, motivate themselves to make contributions and work towards a common goal. Businesses from both countries have built their own unique and strong corporate culture.
2. Business Models
In Japan, Zaibatsu operates in a wide variety of businesses, ranging from mineral extraction, shipbuilding, internal combustion engine manufacturing, steel, textiles, chemicals, and oil refining, to textiles, beer production, food processing, insurance, and paper-making. In which, banks and trading companies play a particularly important role. After World War II, the Zaibatsu model was replaced by a Keiretsu model that was more independent of the Government and more suitable for the new economic situation. In essence, Keiretsu are corporations or combinations of companies operating in many fields that are linked together in terms of finance, human resources, raw materials, technology, and distribution. According to the current division, Keiretsu has two types: vertically linked Keiretsu and horizontally linked Keiretsu.
In particular, vertically linked Keiretsu will include raw material suppliers operating as satellites revolving around large production plants on the basis of sharing technology, brands and business organization processes. The distinguishing feature of Keiretsu is its high specialization and linkages between businesses based on economic interests. A horizontally linked Keiretsu represents a relationship between entities, typically centered around a bank and a commercial company (often consisting of several businesses), linked by cross-shareholding and mutual interest commercial system. Horizontally linked Keiretsu are discussed the most because they have a great influence on the Japanese economy. In order to adapt to the rapid changes in the world economy, Japan's economic grouping model is constantly being refined, but basically, in Japanese corporations, there is usually a financial institution central bank to mobilize and arrange capital for the entire corporation. Central banks act as shareholders in the group's member companies, making payments, guaranteeing and granting credit to member companies.
The corporate model in European and American countries was formed on the basis of a long- standing developed economic foundation in trade, industry and services. These corporations often start from family businesses in certain industries, through the process of merging and expanding operations to form large economic groups. In the United States, economic groups were formed and developed in the second half of the 19th century and were mainly privately owned. Private economic groups are not only symbols of the strength of the US economy, leading many modern industries and services but also influencing the technological development trends of mankind. In the United States, there are two basic forms of economic group association:
(1) A cooperative group is formed on the basis of an agreement of independent companies, no company holds the right to control the entire operation of the group.
(2) Hierarchical corporation, in which one company holds the right to dominate the group. There are two types of hierarchical corporations: hybrid and pyramid. In order to manage and limit losses to the economy in the event of economic groups' collapse, the US legal system has introduced regulations to reduce the number of ranks in economic groups.
3. Recruitment Form
In Japan, the seniority system is a special mode of recruitment. Accordingly, Japanese companies are hiring people to work for their whole life, employees only stick with 1 company from the beginning until retirement. This form brings impacts on both sides for both businesses and employees.
Meanwhile, in the United States, an employee can change the working environment if he finds it unsuitable, as long as it is agreed by his superiors and does not violate the contract.
America is a society with a short-term orientation in which people focus on short-term interests rather than long-term interests. American leaders often encourage labor behaviors that bring immediate benefits to the company. This is in stark contrast to Japan, where leaders always put the company's long-term interests first. For this reason, in American companies, employees who have good performance and make immediate contributions to the company are often rewarded and promoted quickly. People with poor performance can easily be fired at any time.
4. Roles of Individuals and Collectives
Japan has always been appreciated for its spirit of solidarity and attachment to the collective, the goal of the whole team is also the goal of each individual. Businesses in Japan place a high value on collective values as a way to get things done more smoothly. People maintain harmony with each other with care and trust. They put their egos and needs aside because they know that team achievements mean more than individual accomplishments on the path to career growth.
This combination helps to improve the morale and productivity of the members, no one has to shoulder and handle the project completely alone and that is also the core value in the Japanese working culture. Bonuses based on their ability are not only judged by individual achievements and abilities, but also by communication skills and collaboration with other teammates.
According to an article by Doshisha University in Kyoto, Hourensou (報連相) is considered a rule that many Japanese companies strictly follow. Hourensou (報連相) stands for three words houkoku (報告): report, renraku (連絡): contact and soudan (相談): discuss. This means that employees in Japanese companies must always update the work situation to their superiors.
Every decision, big or small, must be approved by all relevant departments and must have the boss's stamp of approval. Whenever a problem arises, employees must immediately report it to their superiors before coming up with any solutions on their own.
In his book When Cultures Collide, British linguist Richard Lewis lists the differences between leadership styles around the world. He realized that most American companies would be based on a system called "structured individualism". Americans believe that the individual is at the center of the world, that individual interests are more important than collective interests, and that individual efforts are necessary to achieve success. Americans are willing to fight for personal satisfaction even at the expense of group harmony. Leaders of American companies care above all about individual performance and put results at the center of management.
Employees are encouraged to express their views and promote initiatives at work to increase productivity. Unlike in Japanese companies, where employees are evaluated based on how well they cooperate with colleagues, American leaders only evaluate employees on individual work results. They act as employee facilitators: providing guidance, listening to employees to find problems, and helping employees solve problems. All are aimed at achieving the desired work results. It can be said that the relationship between leaders and employees in American companies is purely a working relationship.
5. Working Time
One thing in common is that employees of businesses in both Japan and the United States have to work for long hours and don't have many vacations compared to other developed countries. Japan is famous for its high-intensity work with long hours. There is even a term here for a very common phenomenon called 'karoshi', which means death from exhaustion. In Japanese companies, overtime is normal. No one forced them to do so, but they felt it was imperative. This is due to a rather profound influence from the characteristics of the labor market in Japan and that gradually becomes a culture that is difficult to give up in Japanese companies.
According to data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, in 2016, the average number of hours worked by workers in the US was more than in Japan. What's more, according to a 2017 Glassdoor report, the average employee in the US takes only half of the time they are on vacation or holiday. More than 60% of the interviewees said that they still work during vacations. Similarly, according to an Expedia survey, Japanese workers use only half of their vacation days. Many people even say that they feel guilty every time they take a break.
6. Business Behavior 6.1. Business Card
Perhaps nowhere else is the business card so valued as it is in Japan. The business card has become familiar to entrepreneurs, the business card is always the opening thing for all business transactions. According to a statistic of Nihon Kaizai newspaper, on average in Japan, a businessman uses 20 business cards a day, and Japanese people exchange about 45 million business cards a day. This proves that Japan is one of the countries that use the most business cards in business. When receiving a business card from the other party, the Japanese will bow slightly and receive with two hands, they place their hands at chest level and especially do not receive with one hand. When holding a business card, they do not let their fingers obscure the
information stored on the card. The partner's business card after receiving it needs to be placed on the business card box. This shows respect and courtesy to the other party.
Business cards play a minor role in American business, often being exchanged at the end of a meeting. Business cards are used primarily to exchange each other's addresses or phone numbers, not as a basis of trust. Obviously, most people have business cards and foreign businessmen also have business cards printed in English.
6.2. Communication
In communication, Japanese people often use indirect speech and implicit meaning. Many things go unspoken but implicitly based on context and culture. To understand the utterances of Japanese colleagues or partners, the interlocutor needs to understand the specific context of the conversation, the cultural background as well as the social position of the speaker. The Japanese focus on messages that cannot be expressed in words. Communication is also a way to cultivate harmonious relationships. The Japanese use high context culture. Besides, other factors that are equally important in conveying the meaning of the message are gestures, attitudes or facial expressions. When working, the Japanese may have strong opinions on a certain issue but they do not speak directly. They often use a detour and with very gentle words. For the Japanese, maintaining a harmonious atmosphere in the workplace is more important than finding ways to express and protect the ego. They avoid confrontation by making room for others to speak and weigh those statements to make their own decisions.
In contrast to Japan, America is a culture that is less dependent on context. People like to speak directly and directly in the communication. For Americans, the meaning of an utterance is understood on the basis of the meaning of the word itself, not depending on the communication context or cultural cues. In the workplace, Americans are willing to express their attitudes and opinions frankly as well as use the most concise and direct way of speaking so that others can understand immediately without having to guess. The Americans use low context culture. Low context cultures often value understanding and concrete actions that make negotiations as effective as possible. These cultures often use specific, legal contracts to enter into agreements.
When negotiating with American businessmen or communicating with American colleagues, it is necessary to avoid roundabouts and hidden meanings because they will most likely not understand or misunderstand.
7. Business Relationships
The Japanese work in groups and they are aware of the power of group work. That is why relationships become extremely important, based on reciprocity. Japanese work culture also requires people to know how to integrate, cooperate and adapt to social standards. Working principles are always based on relationship and context rather than fixed dry principles. Another important point is that they pay a lot of attention to the nuances of conversation in each situation and other subtle signs, they are willing to help when others need it, and see the problem in many ways.
Americans are very fond of honesty, and straightforwardness. They are always straight to the point. Americans don't waste time circling before discussing. The American working style encourages the freedom to express opinions and personal views. In other cultures, it is often considered rude to be too direct or honest about an issue, but Americans do not think so. They think that being open, frank, and even giving opposing opinions and bad news is still better than hiding it. Americans always put reason above feelings. They boldly voice their opinions even though it may affect relationships within the company.