Bridges to Japanese Business Etiquette - Understanding Japan Cross-cultural Management: Bridges to Japanese Business Etiquette - Understanding Japan Cross-cultural Management

By Philippe Huysveld

(written in collaboration with Motoko MJ Huysveld)

Cross-cultural misunderstandings frequently appear in situations where Westerners interact with people from the Far East, in particular with the Japanese. As a Japan Business Consultant, I have witnessed many business cases, situations or events, where understanding the basics of Japanese business etiquette and Japan cross-cultural management would have helped a lot.

This book, filled with concrete advice and illustrations of what to do and what not to do, aims at giving foreign business executives the necessary background and “toolkit” for succeeding in their “Japan cross-cultural adventure”.

The reader equipped with all the tools and tips I have developed in this book should definitely “perform better” when confronted with a Japanese prospect, potential business partner or “boss”. Being well prepared for future Japan-related business opportunities is of the most importance now that an EPA in principle has been concluded between the EU and Japan!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9780244702076

Book preview

Bridges to Japanese Business Etiquette

- Understanding Japan

Cross-cultural Management –

BRIDGE kintaikyo-yamaguchi

Philippe Huysveld

Japan Expert and EU-Japan Business Consultant

GBMC (Global Business & Management Consulting, www.gbmc.biz)

« Japan Series »: Book/Livre VI

Editor: Lulu.com

Bridges to Japanese Business Etiquette

- Understanding Japan Cross-cultural Management -

« Japan Series »: Book/Livre VI

Editor: Lulu.com

Second Edition

Copyright © 2020 Philippe Huysveld

All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-0-244-70207-6

To my beloved wife Motoko

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Bridges to Japanese Business Etiquette

- Understanding Japan

Cross-cultural Management –

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Part I: Japan cross-cultural Basics

Chapter I - Cross-cultural Management Practices are key!

Chapter II - Japanese Culture Basics

2.1. The « Cross-cultural 4Ps »

2.2. How do Japanese behave?

2.3. Other things you should know

2.4. Group Spirit in the workplace

2.5. The Decision-making process

Chapter III - Five Keys for Success

Chapter IV - Case Study: Opportunities for French SMEs in the Japanese Aerospace Industry

Chapter V – Top tips for Doing Business in Japan

5.1. General Recommendations

5.2. A few inspiring quotes

Chapter VI – How to pitch to Japanese prospects

6.1. Introduction: US vs Japanese style

6.2. Types of Interlocutors

6.3. Indirect vs Direct Approach

6.4. Prepare your meishi !

6.5. How to exchange meishi

6.6. To bow or not to bow?

6.7. Self-Introduction

Part II: Communicating, Negotiating and Working with the Japanese

Chapter VII – Advanced Cross-cultural Concepts

7.1. Japanese Ethics and Standards of conduct

7.2. Nemawashi: The Decision-making Process

7.3. Omotenashi: The Customer Service Mindset

7.4. Long-term Strategies and Trust Building

Chapter VIII – Communicating with the Japanese

8.1. Communication Basics

8.2. Sources of confusion or miscommunication

8.3. The importance of Non–verbal Communication

8.4. A few tips for kaizen

Chapter IX - Business Negotiations in Japan

9.1.      Short versus Long Negotiation Process?

9.2.      Basics of Negotiation

9.3.      Analogy with Sumo-wrestling

9.4.      How to negotiate a contract?

Chapter X - Business Meetings in Japan

10.1.      What kind of meetings?

10.2.      General tips for Meetings

10.3.      The Meeting Process

10.4.      Telephone and Videoconferencing Meetings

10.5.      Face-to-face Formal Meetings

10.6.      Face-to-face Informal Meetings

Chapter XI - Working with Japanese Colleagues

11.1.      Being a salaryman

11.2.      Loyalty: Concepts of giri, on and amae

11.3. Focus on Customer Service

11.4. Group Spirit and Team Work

11.5. Nemawashi: The Decision-making Process

11.6. Reporting and horenso

11.7. Getting Feedback from Japanese bosses

11.8. Management – Leadership

SUMMARY

APPENDIX:  USEFUL JAPANESE EXPRESSIONS

GLOSSARY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

Difference is a concept you must own, deepen and further put into practice.

(H. Lefebvre)

Cross-cultural misunderstandings and issues frequently appear in situations where Westerners interact and communicate with people from the Far East, in particular with the Japanese. As a Japan Business Consultant, I have witnessed many business cases, situations or events, where understanding the basics of Japanese business etiquette and Japan cross-cultural management would have helped and improved by far the outcome of the negotiations or the success of the relationship building process.

This book, filled with concrete advice and illustrations of what to do and what not to do, aims at giving foreign business executives the necessary background and toolkit for succeeding in their "Japan cross-cultural adventure". After all, for curious and outward looking minds, this really could be fun! It is specifically targeted at:

Part I covers Japan cross-cultural basics and Japanese business etiquette, that is, important general topics like: how do Japanese behave, how they behave in groups, how they make decisions, what you should know about them, how you should behave yourself, how to pitch to Japanese, the cross-cultural 4Ps, five keys for success in Japan, a case study of what not to do, top tips as well as general recommendations ….

Part II digs deeper into cross-cultural concepts by reviewing about a dozen Japanese standards of conducts, by explaining the Nemawashi process and the Omotenashi concept, as well as illustrating the importance of time in Japan.

Chapters VIII, IX and X are dedicated to the following 3 key subjects: how to communicate with Japanese, how to negotiate with Japanese, how to conduct a meeting with them. Finally, Chapter XI is specifically written for non-Japanese executives working in Japanese companies around the globe, helping them to understand and work better with their Japanese management.

The reader equipped with all the tools and tips I have developed in this book should definitely perform better when confronted with a Japanese prospect, potential business partner or boss. Being well prepared for future Japan-related business opportunities is of the most importance now that an EPA in principle (Economic Partnership Agreement) has been concluded between the EU and Japan!

Wishing you Good Luck (Ganbatte Kudasai in Japanese) in your Japan Project!

Philippe Huysveld

Paris (France)

January 2020

Part I: Japan cross-cultural Basics

Chapter I - Cross-cultural Management Practices are key!

Many export managers have experienced over the years in which way Time, Quality, Reactivity and Service have another dimension or meaning in the Country of the Rising Sun.

In 2005, the Export to Japan Survey 2005, run by the Belgium Japan Association (BJA), showed that the top 5 difficulties, Belgian companies (70% were SMEs) were experiencing in Japan, were:

Language: 20.1% of the respondents

Technical standards: 14.4%

Business customs: 12.2%

Culture: 11.5%

Regulations: 10.1%

In 2012, the EU-Japan Centre carried out a Survey of EU SMEs on their Internationalisation towards Japan (Source: In Search for Growth: Towards a New Role for SMEs in EU-Japan Relations, EU-JAPAN CENTRE FOR INDUSTRIAL COOPERATION 2013) with similar results/conclusions.

The obstacles most often mentioned by respondents (126 European SMEs) include:

1. Language barriers (55%),

2. Difficulty to grasp business practices,

3. Costs,

4. Difficulty in understanding the local laws or regulations,

5. Conforming to Japanese standards.

As a result, we should always keep in mind how much Cross-cultural Management Concepts are key when approaching high-context Cultures and Markets like Japan (as defined by anthropologist Edward T. Hall in the 1970s)! This book will focus on introducing and explaining them.

Get the Right Mindset for Japan!

As described above, it is usually acknowledged that Japan is not an easy market to penetrate: Courage! In fact, you will have to change your mindset in order to operate smoothly as well as to adapt to the new Japanese business environment.

Concretely speaking, you must plunge, dive, join in, immerse yourself into the Japanese society. You will have to participate, as well as to discover Japan and its culture: please enjoy!

In order to succeed, you will have to Adapt by adopting the following 3 mindsets:

The Japanese Consumer Mindset: open your eyes and find out more about the local cultural characteristics of your market’s clients!

The Quality First Mindset: be humble and practice Kaizen (continuous improvement) in your services and products!

The Customer Service Mindset: be respectful and ALWAYS provide excellent service, as well before as at the time of or after the sale!

We will come back to these concepts further in this book.

Why bother going to Japan?

These are the lessons learnt by foreign executives in Japan:

Companies might experience the need to improve the quality of their products.

We feel that the quality of our products and the company as a whole have benefited a lot from our relationship with Japan (Helioscreen NV in 1997)

The Japanese Market being a source of potential company growth, companies might have to reinvent themselves!

"For any company engaged in product innovation, quality control and focused on creating brands with their own identity on a daily basis, the Japanese market is one of