Panasonic and Japan’s Changing Culture
Panasonic and Japan’s Changing Culture
Summary
Japan is moving towards more individualism than collectivism after the economic bubble. Nonetheless, this is a good opportunity for Japan to adapt to the globalization world and be more competitive. The cultural change will lead to greater mobility of employees, which means people will move around jobs more than before. As a consequence, company loses loyal employees but what they get by recruiting other people is the experiences. When people have mobility, they tend to gain experiences among a lot of companies and build social network among various groups of people. When this happens, new ideas emerge and startups will be built around the new ideas. Hence by moving towards individualism, Japan would create more new business than the past.
What were the triggers of cultural change in Japan during the 1990s? How is cultural change starting to affect traditional values in Japan?
Even culture can change. Japan had to experience that first hand in the 1990s when the economic bubble burst. Companies had hard times and as a consequence they got rid of elder workers whereby they neglected the traditional Japanese value of mutual obligations and loyalty. Younger people noticed theses happenings and lost faith in the mutual loyalty. Any how the generation that was born after the 1964s had greater opportunities growing up in a rapid growing economy thus they didn’t have the same attitude towards Japanese values as their parents did. Their values were more westernized. They didn’t want the same position in the same company their whole life, the wanted to switch companies and positions. All these events led towards individualism.
How might Japan’s changing culture influence the way Japanese businesses operate in the future? What are the potential implications of such changes for the Japanese economy?
Japanese businesses can’t operate the way they used to due to Japan’s changing culture. Companies especially have and had to
Summary
Japan is moving towards more individualism than collectivism after the economic bubble. Nonetheless, this is a good opportunity for Japan to adapt to the globalization world and be more competitive. The cultural change will lead to greater mobility of employees, which means people will move around jobs more than before. As a consequence, company loses loyal employees but what they get by recruiting other people is the experiences. When people have mobility, they tend to gain experiences among a lot of companies and build social network among various groups of people. When this happens, new ideas emerge and startups will be built around the new ideas. Hence by moving towards individualism, Japan would create more new business than the past.
What were the triggers of cultural change in Japan during the 1990s? How is cultural change starting to affect traditional values in Japan?
Even culture can change. Japan had to experience that first hand in the 1990s when the economic bubble burst. Companies had hard times and as a consequence they got rid of elder workers whereby they neglected the traditional Japanese value of mutual obligations and loyalty. Younger people noticed theses happenings and lost faith in the mutual loyalty. Any how the generation that was born after the 1964s had greater opportunities growing up in a rapid growing economy thus they didn’t have the same attitude towards Japanese values as their parents did. Their values were more westernized. They didn’t want the same position in the same company their whole life, the wanted to switch companies and positions. All these events led towards individualism.
How might Japan’s changing culture influence the way Japanese businesses operate in the future? What are the potential implications of such changes for the Japanese economy?
Japanese businesses can’t operate the way they used to due to Japan’s changing culture. Companies especially have and had to
References: Black, C. (2003). Global Business Today, Chapter 3, 91-159.