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5S in Japan…“A place for everything and everything in its place”

Articles, Japanese business keywords, Japanese workstyle by Rochelle Kopp

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"A messy desk is the sign of a creative mind" This shows a typical American attitude that "neatness" is something divorced from "getting things done" -- quite opposite from the...

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Japanese companies and the glass ceiling

Articles, HR management, M&A by Rochelle Kopp

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In Japan, women do not have the same role in the workplace as women in the United States…As Japanese companies have increased their M&A activity in the U.S. recently, I...

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Yokonarabi – Keeping up with the corporate Joneses

Articles, Japanese business, Japanese business keywords by Rochelle Kopp

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…There was no business strategy reason, or other explanation. Just doing it because all our competitors were, and we didn't want to be the only one not doing it.”...

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A3 reports – secret to Japanese productivity

Articles, Japanese business, Japanese business keywords by Rochelle Kopp

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Once one has become familiar with reading and writing A3 reports, they can certainly increase efficiency…any employee can pick up a report from anywhere else in the company and immediately...

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Homegoroshi – Japanese don’t always like positive feedback

Articles, Japanese business keywords, Leadership by Rochelle Kopp

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Japanese tend to not want praise for things that they think are not perfect and still need work…Given this negative meaning of compliments, it makes sense that Japanese might feel...

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Omoiyari? or Overkill

Articles, Japanese society, Life in Japan by Rochelle Kopp

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I don’t happen to have children, but I imagine that if I did I wouldn’t need a recorded voice to tell me that I needed to hold their hands on...

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Non-verbal communication in Japanese business

Articles, Cross-cultural communication, Japanese business keywords by Rochelle Kopp

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Western communication style relies heavily on words. In contrast, Japanese communication relies less on verbal manipulation, and more heavily on non-verbals. Japanese are able to rely more on...

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Japanese firms moving towards global HR practices

Articles, Global management, HR management by Rochelle Kopp

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Recently there are more examples of Japanese firms that are creating global databases of all their employees, not just the ones hired in Japan, for purposes of targeting development activities...

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Low-tech can sometimes be best when presenting to Japanese

Articles, Cross-cultural communication, Presentation skills by Rochelle Kopp

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Japanese can be turned off by slick presentations…handwritten things more clearly show the effort of the person who was making it, and thus have more power to pull on the...

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Jinji Ido – The Japanese organizational “refresh” button

Articles, HR management, Japanese business keywords by Rochelle Kopp

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The HR department is given a degree of power that is beyond what is typical in most western companies, creating a special kind of rhythm to life in a Japanese...

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