Managing for Creativity in Japan Talking with Foreign Executives in Japan
Being a Foreign Company
On Being a Foreign Employer
“….First of all, it’s a risk to work for foreigners. Two, it’s not a safe, established Japanese company…”
Ease
“….there is not that sense of ease in a normal Japanese company….”
Japanese Employees
“… Employees here are not just doing everything by the book, which is interesting for them and I think that they find that challenging….”
Need a Japanese Face
“…because there are very specific Japanese ways of doing things here I need to have Japanese staff…”
Not Motivated by Money
“…if you are working for a domestic company and you leave to work in a foreign company for more money – I don’t think that you would be particularly well respected by the colleagues that you left behind….”
Foreign Style Work Environment
“C: From your personal experience, even in terms of dealing with your staff can you see any concrete advantages to being a foreigner? Well, you can promise people a different environment. You can set up a merit-based environment if you are hiring people, for example. In an international company there may be opportunities to travel. [...]
The Whole Train Set
“When you are a country manager overseas, you can short-cut a lot of that. If you want to do something that isn’t directly touching the customer, that doesn’t need head office funds, then you don’t really have to have the same degrees of people involved in the decision or have the same formal gateposts. Something [...]
Recruitment
“It is also more difficult to attract a Japanese person to a non-Japanese company. I think that the reason for that is that they probably think it’s just a one-way ticket meaning that they think they won’t get back into a Japanese company afterwards, although that perception might be changing. (C: why would that be [...]
On Being Successful
“I think you need to break away from the group. Respect it but try to break away from it. Pick staff who have good experience but who are slightly renegade. I’m talking about local staff here. If you are going to come in and set up a company you need local staff. But, when you [...]
