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Case Studies in

Japanese Management

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Case Studies in

Japanese Management Parissa Haghirian Sophia University, Japan

Philippe Gagnon Economist Intelligence Unit, Canada

World Scientific NEW JERSEY

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LONDON

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SINGAPORE

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TA I P E I

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CHENNAI

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Published by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. 5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224 USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601

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UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

CASE STUDIES IN JAPANESE MANAGEMENT Copyright © 2011 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.

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ISBN-13 978-981-4340-87-8 ISBN-10 981-4340-87-1

Typeset by Stallion Press Email: [email protected] Printed in Singapore.

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Contents

About the Authors

ix

What Can We Learn from Japanese Management? Parissa Haghirian

1

Part 1

Entering the Japanese Market

9

You Can’t Please All of the People All of the Time: Wal-Mart’s Adventures in Japan Aaron Toussaint

11

How eBay Got Outbid: Initial Failure and Market Re-entry in Japan Julie Lafage

37

Nintendo — The 800-Pound Gorilla Returns Greg Taylor

53

NTT DoCoMo: Beyond i-mode and FOMA Kaoru Kusuma

81

Xbox in the Land of the Rising Sun Ali AL Dahmen

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Big Gulps and Big Business: Seven-Eleven Japan and the New Keiretsu Paul Gaspari

121

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vi Contents

Sony Playstation 3 (PS3): Phoenix from the Flames? Vincent Agulhon

147

Part 2

Marketing Management in Japan

161

Rise and Fall of the Japanese Luxury Market Ekaterina Ignatova

163

Toyota Lexus: Number One at Home but Struggling at Home Nathan Michael Echols

185

Part 3

201

Dealing with Crisis

Schindler Elevators and the Challenges of the Japanese Market Pascal Kalbermatten

203

Lost in Translation? Toyota and the Recall Scandal Elena Neufeld

231

Part 4

247

Cross-Cultural Encounters

Japanese Perfectionism Meets American “Easygoing-ism” Christina Wright

249

Being Polite in Japan Chenming Bi

255

Getting More Than I Aimed For: Cultural Challenges in the Archery Club Roy Martinez

259

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Part 5

Future Technologies

267

Japanese Car Wars — Who Will Win the Race for the Future Technology? Nathan Michael Echols

269

Index

293

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About the Authors

Ali AL Dhamen received his BS in Business Administration from Northeastern University and is currently pursuing his Masters in International Business and Development at Sophia University’s Graduate Program of Global Studies. His research interests include cross-cultural product design and the effects of organizational structure on business. Vincent Agulhon graduated in 2010 from the ESCEM School of Business and Management, France. He owns a Master’s degree in Management and did a one-year graduate exchange program at Sophia University in Tokyo. He is currently working as a Brand Ambassador for a French luxury company in Japan. Chenming Bi was born in Shanghai, moved to Tokyo at age 13 and is an undergraduate student at Sophia University majoring in International Business and Economics. In 2011, he studies in France, specializing in International Finance. After his graduation, he plans to return to Japan and start a career in banking. Nathan Michael Echols holds a Master of Arts in International Business and Development Studies from Sophia University. His research primarily focused on variations in managerial methods of famous Japanese corporations. Philippe Gagnon is a graduating student in finance who studied at Sophia University in 2009–2010. His work experience at the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Tokyo office made him discover an ix

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x About the Authors

interest for researching and understanding Japan’s strengths and potential in tomorrow’s global economy.

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Paul Gaspari is an Adjunct Professor of International Management at the Faculty of Economics at Sophia University, Japan. His research interests include the modern keiretsu and international entrepreneurship in Japan. Parissa Haghirian is an Associate Professor of International Management at Sophia University in Japan. Her research focuses on Asian management styles, Japanese management and cross-cultural management challenges. Ekaterina Ignatova holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Roanoke College, VA, USA and is currently a master student at Sophia University, majoring in International Business and Development. Pascal Kalbermatten graduated in 2008 from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. He owns a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, a Master’s degree in Information and Technology Management (IMT) and spent study visits at Stanford University in California as well as Sophia University in Tokyo. Kaoru Kusuma was a graduate student at Sophia University, Faculty of Liberal Arts (Global Studies) and researches on Japanese Marketing and Management. She is currently working as Document Control executive in a Japan-based company in Singapore. Roy Martinez is currently a senior at Arizona State University and is a member of The Barrett Honors College. Being an avid technology enthusiast since the age of six has led to him pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, with a concentration in Information Assurance. Roy’s accomplishments include a semester at Sophia University in Tokyo, a 2010 Google Scholarship Award, a 2010

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Motorola Scholarship from the Ira Fulton School of Engineering at ASU, and an internship with Microsoft in summer of 2010.

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Julie Lafage is a Marketing professional and currently a Product Manager at Renault. She received her Master degree in International Business and Marketing from the ESCEM-Ecole Superieure de Commerce Tours-Poitiers in France in 2009. Elena Neufeld is a student of Baltic Management Studies at the University of Applied Science in Stralsund, Germany. She spent a study visit at the Institute of Technology in Carlow, Ireland and worked as a research and teaching assistant with Professor. Haghirian at Sophia University in Tokyo. She will graduate in 2011 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Baltic Management Studies. Greg Taylor has ten years of experience in the video game industry. He now works at Sucker Punch Productions on the infamous 2 team. Greg received his Masters of International Business from Sophia University in Spring 2009. Aaron Toussaint is currently Research Manager at Five by Fifty, a Tokyo-based trend forecasting and ethnographic marketing research agency. Aaron’s current research interests include the effect of consumer ethnocentrism on product evaluation, as well as trends in Japan’s FMCG markets, especially alcoholic beverages. Christina Wright graduated from Sophia University, Faculty of Comparative Culture, where she earned her degree in International Business and Economics. She is currently working in the fashion industry in Tokyo.