The “No-Nonsense” Guide to Doing Business in Japan

Frontmatter

1. A Different Japan?

Abstract

People change, companies change, countries change. It would seem that some of the biggest changes over the past decade have occurred in Japan. At the end of the 1980s, it had the strongest economy, with the most competitive companies, manned with particularly dynamic and hardworking employees, and backed by an unusually able and supportive government. It seemed that there was no stopping Japan and the Japanese.

Jon Woronoff

2. First Things First

Abstract

Normally, a book — especially a how-to book — should start at the beginning. But that does not happen often with books on how to do business in Japan. They presume a lot of things. One is that every foreigner (gaijin) should be enthusiastic about cracking the Japanese market. But there are gaijin and gaijin. And what may be an excellent idea for some may be a rather poor one for others.

Jon Woronoff

3. Corporate Community

Abstract

Of course, you are going to Japan to do business. But Japan is a big place and, no matter how big you are, you will really only be doing business in some small corner of that vast market. So, the sooner the better, you must begin disaggregating and figuring out just what sort of business community you will fit into. Like anywhere else, you must know the players and how they operate. Only then can you decide how best to react.

Jon Woronoff

4. Business-Related Culture

Abstract

Somewhere along the line, most books on doing business in Japan lapse into fanciful reflections on Japanese culture. They muse about the ancient customs and traditions, how the Japanese personality is forged by mutual obligation (giri and on) or the time-honored loyalty of the samurai toward his lord. They explain how flower arrangement or tea ceremony or goodness knows what shapes the inner workings of the Japanese mind. Foreigners must be very sensitive and subtle in adjusting to these cultural factors if they are to succeed in the business world, it is argued.

Jon Woronoff

5. Choosing the Right Vehicle

Abstract

There are two basic facts about the Japanese market that nobody seems to question. The Japanese market is one of the most attractive in the world. It is also one of the toughest in the world. Depending on whether the pull or push is greater, you should decide on how to approach doing business there. But you should certainly not be put off by its toughness and what you regard as your inability to crack it. There is more than one way of getting in and some of the ways are much less exacting than others.

Jon Woronoff

6. Mergers and Acquisitions

Abstract

About a decade ago, when the first edition of this book was written, the alternative of actually buying up or buying into a Japanese company hardly existed. Indeed, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) were regarded as almost a dirty trick, the sort of thing devious foreigners might do with one another, but hardly something that Japanese should engage in amongst themselves. And the idea of a foreign company taking over a Japanese one was considered even more heinous, like a second coming of the “black ships.” Even foreigners thought such a thing was a bit improbable.

Jon Woronoff

7. Negotiating that Deal

Abstract

On reading many of the popular books on doing business in Japan, and more particularly those on negotiating with the Japanese, you would think this is not the 21st century but the 1850s when Japan was just being opened. You are not a rather ordinary businessman come to sell widgets but Commodore Perry, who has arrived with his “black ships” on these inhospitable shores. And the Japanese are not equally ordinary businessmen out to buy widgets but the Shogun’s retainers who hardly know what a foreigner is and certainly do not like dealing with one.

Jon Woronoff

8. Getting Personnel

Abstract

Many foreigners who have done business in Japan regard finding (and keeping) the right personnel as particularly difficult, perhaps the hardest task of all.¹ There you are, a stranger to this country, and you must assemble a team that will demonstrate ability and dedication so that the new company can grow. That is not easy anywhere. In Japan, you are faced with a different culture, different attitudes toward employment and a different employment system as such. There is also, and one should not hide it, a deep-rooted bias against working for foreign companies, especially if they are also small and new … which is usually the case at least initially.

Jon Woronoff

9. Distribution

Abstract

Distribution seems to be a headache everywhere, but rarely more so than in Japan, at least among the more liberal economies. It is certainly much harder than selling goods in the United States, an uncommonly open and transparent market, and even more difficult than operating in Europe or parts of East Asia. Indeed, the complexities have often appeared so formidable that distribution was branded a nontariff barrier.¹

Jon Woronoff

10. Keys to Success

Abstract

Every book on doing business in Japan has a section on what it takes to succeed. This is mine. It includes many of the standard clichés with regard to adapting to the market, quality, service, and delivery. But it adds some items most other writers tend to neglect. It is hard to grasp why. After all, price is a crucial element anywhere, including Japan.¹ And, in Japan, nothing is quite as precious as connections.

Jon Woronoff

11. When in Japan, do as the Japanese?

Abstract

There is probably no bit of advice you will hear or read more frequently than that variation on an old theme: “when in Japan, do as the Japanese.” You will get it from official sources, you will get it from well-meaning Japanese businessmen, you will get it even at seminars of foreign chambers of commerce. It is mouthed, often parrot-like and without much thought to the matter, by foreign businessmen themselves, especially those who do not practice what they preach.

Jon Woronoff

12. What Now?

Abstract

I don’t know how often I have heard this old saw: Japan is a tough market, but once you’re inside you’ve got it made. Unfortunately, it isn’t quite that simple. Japan is a tough market. And you can do very nicely there in whatever terms you want, sales, market share, profits. But you’ve never really “got it made.” You have to keep at it all the time. You just cannot lean back and relax because the competition never ceases and, if anything, seems to be intensifying.

Jon Woronoff

Backmatter