Why Japanese companies do so many different things

Post by [deleted] » Fri, May 22, 2026, 9:31 PM UTC

joe_mamba wrote: post #216

andrewmutz wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japanese and American companies have different purposes. In Japan the corporation primarily provides stable income and employment for society, and secondarily returns on capital invested. In America, corporations primarily provide returns on capital invested and secondarily provide stable income and employment. This shows up in the data too. Japanese corporations are less likely to go out of business but provide wors…

>Japanese and American companies have different purposes. In Japan the corporation primarily provides stable income and employment for society, Are you Japanese? Because this doesn't match what I know about Japanese companies, like Sony for example, who operate in a very American way. Your image on Japanese vs American companies feels like the copy and pasted idealistic impression of what American redditors imagine J…

Post by jimbokun » Fri, May 22, 2026, 9:32 PM UTC

adamwk wrote: post #205

jimbokun wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The recent Abundance movement on the left argues strongly that progress has been held back by over regulation and bureaucratic processes.

Does it? I’ve seen Ezra Klein talk about his book and he talked about how bureaucracy is frequently a scapegoat for getting things done. Europe is very bureaucratic yet is able to build. The issue he called out is red tape yes but more so litigation by the private citizen. That any individual can stop an apartment being built because it blocks morning light into their flower bed

Post by netcan » Fri, May 22, 2026, 9:33 PM UTC

jodacola wrote: post #20

jdw64 wrote: post #7

It’s always fascinating to see how Westerners idealize Japan on platforms like HN. It makes me wonder(i'm korean): how would a Westerner react if they saw me romanticizing the Mondragon cooperatives in Spain? They’d probably find it strange and out of touch with reality. This essay on Japan's corporate diversification and physical tacit knowledge is an interesting read. However, as an East Asian, my assessment is tha…

> It makes me wonder(i'm korean): how would a Westerner react if they saw me romanticizing the Mondragon cooperatives in Spain? They’d probably find it strange and out of touch with reality. Quite the opposite - for me, anyway. FWIW, as a Westerner, I find the Mondragon Corporation to be fascinating and something I've read a lot about because there's no way we've figured out the ideal sort of setup for a business (or…

Post by [deleted] » Fri, May 22, 2026, 9:36 PM UTC

PunchyHamster wrote: post #240

jdw64 wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

How does the "concentration" of gamedev jobs look like ? In US and I think in most of EU countries that have noticeable gamedev it is usually concentrated in very few cities, so changing job does not necessarily consist a move. But other industries similarly usually have a niche and sometimes whole towns that rose around it. I think main difference is that there is very little tradition of company thinking they own s…

Post by LZ_Khan » Fri, May 22, 2026, 9:37 PM UTC

floatrock wrote: post #166

LZ_Khan wrote: post #149

If a corporation does not have an incentive to make money, it will not align its priorities correctly. For every neatly diversified company you have 10 zombie companies with workers floundering around like ants without a queen.

If a corporation has an incentive to make money, it will align its priorities towards making money. Question is: are "making money" and "correct priorities" synonymous? You use "zombie companies" as a universal pejorative and suggest we should all be instead worshiping at the alter of economic efficiency, JIT-delivery, and maximizing shareholder value without really considering the critiques there. Yes, the "zombie c…