Market Cultural and Global Bsiness Management

Question: Discuss about the Market Cultural and Global Bsiness Management. Answer: Introduction Japan has a population of about 127.2 million people according to the 2015b census and thus it is ranked 10th in the world. The country is characterized by an aging population with a declining birth rate and therefore in terms of labor supply, the country is not safe especially for start-up businesses. Japanese economy is one of the most stable because the country enjoys social and political stability with efficiently run institutions which ensure that business is carried out in the most effective manner with little interruption. Judicial framework in Japan is regarded as one of the most effective and investors perceive Japanese authorities as least corrupt and thus the environment is conducive for doing business. In Japan, there is no minimum capital to start a business which makes it easy for start-ups to set-up their operations and succeed in doing business. Japan is one of the most industrialized countries in the world especially in technology manufacturing sector, and for this reason, Japan stands out as one of the most attractive countries for most of the investors. Japan. Japanese culture is also important for anyone who wishes to reside there or do business from there because it forms the center of the Japanese society and way of life (Bestor et al. 2011). I am particularly interested in knowing the culture of Japanese because my uncle works in Japan and in future I am planning to work in Japan. Japanese culture is complex and multilayered in that there are so many aspects that define the culture of people in Japan and for this reason understanding this culture is quite crucial for anyone intending to live, work or do business in Japan (Bestor et al. 2011). Japanese tend to value mode of behavior than any other country because they value social life and families more than anything else. Understanding Japanese culture is the key to success in interacting with Japanese and moving along while doing business. Most of the organizations in Japan use the seniority approach remunerate their employees and despite the political and social stability that Japan enjoys, Post Bank of Japan has distorted the economy with its policies. Because of these complexities portrayed in Japan, it is important to understand Japanese culture through a thorough cultural analysis. Detailed cultural analysis Most of the Japanese people are formal and conservative in nature compared to other cultures. Japanese value respect and humility because those are the key aspects that form the interrelationship amongst Japanese (Alston Takei, 2005). They believe that the behavior of an individual tells much about a person and Japanese people in general. Most of the people in Japan value expression of appreciation even for small favors that an individual receives because Japanese feel appreciation is key to developing future relationships (Meyer, 2014). Most of the people make a common mistake where they expect other people to say thank you instead of them initiating the process. According to Japanese, appreciation need not be formal because any form of recognition is acceptable to the people and people in Japan accept small gifts as a form of appreciation. Japanese people believe in one race, one people policy even though the policy keeps changing with time because of the new globalization era that the country is experiencing at the moment. Japanese community is regarded as the most ethnically and socially homogenous country in the world. Economic development witnessed during the post-war in the 1990s in Japan could be likened to conformism and social solidarity (Meyer, 2014). Despite the country facing labor shortages in the 1960s and 1970s, the government did not sanction foreign workers to work in Japan until the 1980s. For many years, workers in Japan have associated their identity with places where they work and therefore it can be said that Japanese always put the objectives of the society above personal objectives and goals (LLC, 2016). Language in Japan is one of the most components of culture that should be examined. Researchers attribute the Japanese language as one that originated from Altaic languages such as Mongolian and Turkish and most of this language borrows from Korean language (Alston et al. 2005). Among the most spoken languages, Japanese is the sixth most spoken, and more than 99 percent of the people in Japan use Japanese. This implies that for someone to reside, work or do business in Japan, they must be familiar with the Japanese language orientation (LLC, 2016). Order and status in Japan are another important cultural component because hierarchy is natural amongst people. Almost all social interactions are defined by relative differences in status. In Japan, education, gender, age and place of employment are some of the common things that determine interactions between people (Morschett et al. 2010). This implies that more senior people are respected more than any other person, and senior employees also earn reputation in the society because they are held with high regard. To know the seniority of a person during an interaction, people exchange business cards which contain important information about people. Bowing in Japan is a sign of respect for Japanese and Japanese mind a lot about the act because to them respect is paramount in every interaction especially in the business world (De, 2006). Different bows give different implications according to the Japanese culture(Bestor et al. 2011). Regarding racial segregation and integration, Japa n has tried to integrate with people from other ethnic groups even though some Japanese are still racial in nature. For instance, many ordinary Japanese people regard Koreans, Ainu and other people as inferiors compared to native Japanese. People in Japan are not expected to talk a lot because too much talking is a sign of immaturity and it is often associated with feminine gender (Mba, 2012). Business culture of Japan compared to Singapore Face-saving and contexting is also a common business culture in Japan. Just like Edward Hall puts it, Japan is one of the most contexted cultures among industrialized countries. Practically, this implies that Japanese people can easily read the environment and context of communication and make judgments about what is being said (Kunkel, 2010). For this reason, Japanese do not solely rely on what is spoken as the entire message. The indirect communication style widely used in Japan contrasts with the direct communication used in Singapore which is a lower contexted nation, and therefore lower contexted nations use less of white lies compared to Japan (Kunkel, 2010). It is, therefore, clear that communication by Japanese people can be misunderstood by people from low contexted culture and be termed as dishonesty which is not true. It is, therefore, important for people operating in Japan to analyze words from the speech and the character of the person making the speech to know the real meaning of the message. Individualism and attitude of individuals towards employers and work place is another key cultural aspect that is worth noting because it contributes heavily to the business culture that shapes modern day Japan. In Japan, most people identify themselves with the organizations which they work for and not the individual skills and titles are given to them. For professionals in Singapore, they often identify themselves with skills and job titles with little mention of organizations they work for (Morschett et al. 2010). For this reason, most employees in Japan have an adamant attachment to organizations and workplaces which motivate them to work even more because they feel part of the organization and country. In Japan, work life is given priority over family and work forms the center of their lifestyle which implies that the traditions reinforce this lifestyle. Most Japanese workplaces are hierarchical and highly structured. Even though the country is uniform economically and social advancement for people is based on merit, it cannot match egalitarianism in countries such as Singapore and Canada (Morschett et al. 2010). By contrast, many people in Japan are highly sensitive to status and rank within business organizations. Seniority and rank are closely related in Japan at workplaces and many at times people tend to differentiate superiors from subordinates regarding the language used for communication and gifts (Hashimoto, 2014). In contrast, business organizations in Singapore have a flexible schedule where an individual can comfortably work from home and only deliver results. Lastly, the decision-making process in Japan is done in stages by following the hierarchy, and the process is usually conservative and cautious which is slower than companies in Singapore (Martinuzzi, 2016). The whole decision-making process is full of meetings and documentation which aims at bringing consistency while reducing errors. Gift giving is one of the common business culture practices in Japan and Japanese people often expect gifts from companies where they work (De, 2006). According to Japanese culture, gift giving in business is typically reciprocated even though not on a fifty-fifty basis because they consider inequality as a sign of the continued relationship between the two partners (De, 2006). For business people in Japan, gifts are not supposed to be opened in front of the person that gives the gift unless told to do so. Gifts are given in a business context go with seniority of the person receiving the gift regarding age or position in the company (Hashimoto, 2014). Gift giving culture in businesses is different from Singapore because for most business people in Singapore gift giving is not given that much emphasis. Hofstedes five dimensions according to Japanese culture Hofstedes five dimensions is a cultural model that ranks culture in a nation along five dimensions (Dellner, 2009). The dimensions include power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, femininity vs. masculinity, uncertainty avoidance index and long-term orientation (Dellner, 2009). Japan has a higher power distance whereby hierarchy is at the center of many organizations and the decisions are mostly made by people in the higher hierarchy, and they are less democratic (Frost, 2016). There are also higher wage differences among employees, and therefore any foreign company that seeks to operate in Japan must structure its organization in a hierarchical manner. There is a higher degree of collectivism in Japan, and a lot of emphases is put on the harmony of the group. Japanese employees are more indirect because they try to avoid disruption of group harmony (Frost, 2016). Any foreign company that wants to operate in Japan must always ensure that harmony exists among employees. This is because its Japanese culture and individualism in places of work should be avoided by all means. Japan is masculine in nature because of the competition that Japanese employees have especially group competition (Frost, 2016). People always strive for excellence in the organization because Japanese values advocate for that and therefore any organization that seeks to do business in Japan must provide that work environment with rules that cultivate hard work. Uncertainty avoidance is one of the attributes of Japanese culture because they do not like working in ambiguous situations. They emphasize on codes and structures that are well known to them and managers often use figures and facts (Frost, 2016). Organizations that operate in Japan must have well laid out routines and codes of conduct for employees to follow and should always strive to eliminate work risks. Japan is a more long term oriented society that focuses on the wider picture and considers and individual's life as short thus they focus on investing for the long term period rather than focusing on short-term profits (Frost, 2016). Management of a business organization that operates in Japan should align their strategies to the long term benefits rather than focus on short-term profits. Conclusion Japan is an industrialized nation where many organizations strive to invest in and to understand the Japanese culture is crucial for any organization. There are key cultural aspects about Japan that must be adhered to when operating in the country (Martinuzzi, 2016). Japanese people are reserved and respectful by nature with much focus in their workplace and organizations they work in. Using Hofstede's five-dimension model a business organization establishes how management should be structured to suit in Japanese culture. Japan has a population of about 127.2 million people according to the 2015b census and thus it is ranked 10th in the world. The country is characterized by an aging population with a declining birth rate and therefore in terms of labor supply, the country is not safe especially for start-up businesses. Japanese economy is one of the most stable because the country enjoys social and political stability with efficiently run institutions which ensure that business is carried out in the most effective manner with little interruption. References Adekola, A., Sergi, B. S. (2016). Global business management: A cross-cultural perspective. Routledge. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=enlr=id=XXEGDAAAQBAJoi=fndpg=PP1dq=Adekola,+A.,+%26+Sergi,+B.+S.+(2016).+Global+business+management:+A+cross-cultural+perspective.+Routledge.ots=BBGhKSht_Rsig=nx0gIEACsp9dTb-cV0fkigXG6cYredir_esc=y#v=onepageqf=false Alston, J. P., Takei, I. (2005). 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