The other defining quality of the archetypal Japanese company is what has been described as a "silo mentality" - employees only concentrating on their narrow responsibilities within their own department.
This was one of the first issues tackled by maverick French national Carlos Ghosn. He took over as Nissan's CEO when French car-maker Renault announced it was taking a 37% share in Nissan in 1999. That stake has since been increased to 44%.
Mr Ghosn introduced something called "cross-functional team working". This encourages dialogue across departments and divisions, engendering what Nissan's Toshiyuki Shiga terms "healthy conflict". It also enables the ideas of younger employees to get heard.
Mr Ghosn also tackled bloated management - cutting 22,900 jobs, some 15% of the total workforce, and halved the company's suppliers.
As a result, it is now Japan's most profitable car company, posting a $7.29bn profit in year end of March 2004. BBC
I still remember the tsunami of books and articles about how western business was going to have it's lunch eaten by Japan--and in many markets, this was and is true. The (Creighton novel) Rising Sun mentality had us convinced that America was undergoing an economic Pearl Harbor.
Now, I wonder, is Japan going to produce a slew of books about American business practices to the tune of The Minuteman Manager,/em> Ben Franklin on Business, Cowboy Secrets to Corporate Success, etc?
Anyways, check out the rest of the article, which is more about the tale of two carmakers, Mitsubishi and Nissan, and how one evolved and one did not. THis attitude may be related to the one of the local politicians who protested over the Nanjing Massacre comic.
Analysts say a culture of not confronting problems, and complacency resulting from Mitsubishi Group's proud history, have prevented it from facing up to problems.
Comments