Although Japanese seldom intentionally try to hide things from American colleagues, they often inadvertently create that impression through various habits and communication style differences. By adopting practices and techniques...
Meetings are becoming the most hated part of everyone’s workday at the company — they take up time, and nothing ever seems to get done. Japanese feel like they...
In Japanese companies, the periodic rotation of the President presents a constant challenge. Successfully managing these transitions is one of the most challenging activities for Japanese-affiliated firms....
High turnover among the engineering staff is becoming a headache. Other than just money, it seems that American engineers want something else that their Japanese employers may not be...
By expecting a Japanese participant in the meeting to commit to a decision, you put them in a difficult position… clarify beforehand the purpose of the meeting, and whether decisions...
The idea in Japan that successful businesswomen can’t be feminine seems to go beyond clothes. There is a traditional notion in Japan that aggressive behavior is unattractive, and that...
There are any number of reasons why a strategic alliance may be unsuccessful....
Japanese are conscious of time and particularly deadlines, but tend not to feel the need to rush things unnecessarily…The traditional Japanese approach to change and decision-making is increasingly out of...
Japanese take very seriously the concept of personal responsibility. When westerners refuse to apologize and instead dwell on all the extenuating circumstances that caused the problem, Japanese view this...
There is a tremendous linguistic gap between the Japanese language and English....