Japanese-style business

But, what does its success consist of? What does its managerial leadership reside in? What can we learn from its culture? Mandatory questions to learn about Japanese-style business.

There is really no Japanese magic in conducting business. More than that, they have natural or instinctive strategists, who may never have taken a course or read a strategy book, but who have an intuitive understanding of what the basic elements of the strategic process are.

Today I share you at least 10 secrets of the Japanese in business:

1. The concept of corporation: surely because of the wars they have had to face, the Japanese have become true producing communities where productivity values ​​are based on life-long employment, equitable remuneration, promotions by seniority and the ability to provide participation to employees What business partners.
2. The relationship is the most important thing in the negotiation process. Principle number one in the success of Japanese companies consists of visualizing and evaluating the negotiation as a process that goes from pre-negotiation to post-negotiation with the same importance since through these processes the business relationship.
3. Respect as a fundamental principle: If it’s not yours, it must be someone’s. If you found this pen on a desk it must be someone’s, then return it. If you find yourself with a watch or a ring and it is not yours, it must be someone else’s, if you find a wallet lying on the street and it is not yours, it must be someone’s and if you find yourself at a party a lady, and it is not yours must be someone’s.
4. The secrets of productivity: Neither excess men working, nor excess equipment in use, nor excess stocks: minimal but flexible factories thanks to subcontracts. Everything you need to maintain your costs to a minimum.
5. The value of the human being: Unlike Western countries where much emphasis is placed on technological development and scientific research, the Japanese give special importance to the value of the person. They invest a great deal of resources investigating how individuals should be treated and organized at work. If only one thing we learned from them, this would be of great value.
6. Continuous improvement: The Japanese philosophically believe in continuous improvement. This means that everything we do can always be improved. What I do today, I can do better tomorrow. Every process, however small it may seem, can be improved.
7. The Japanese Management: with their particular style based on cultural values ​​of respect for the person, Japanese managers make sure that their people have job stability and dignified and productive workplaces which promotes loyalty and therefore they remain in their jobs for many years .
8. They focus on processes rather than results: surely one of the most impressive paradigms in relation to Western culture. Being quick and imperfect is better than being perfect but late. Solutions have value when in place. They promote ideas in the organization and are valued. They constantly wonder Why?
9. They recognize three types of problems: those discovered that appear because something is failing, those that are buried that are those that the company proactively seeks so that they do not occur unexpectedly in the future and those created, that are produced by systematically evaluating the products, services and work processes of others leading companies to incorporate them as yours.
10. More than copy they invent. The Japanese are especially creative and believe that designing new products will provide them with greater profitability in the long run than simply “copying.”

In a future post we will talk specifically about one of the companies that are representative of this management model oriental as successful as Toyota is and we will delve into some of the common characteristics of its productive development.

Meanwhile, I invite you to read these other business topics: