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Why Japanese companies do so many different things

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Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#171

Post by jdw64 »

jmyeet wrote: post #160
jdw64 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you angling for an 'Honorary Korean' title? You know too much about Korea

My form of autism is going on deep dives into political and history topics and I'm not gonna lie, I've watched a super-long video essays on the 4B movement, neo-confucianism and the chaebols. This [1] I think was one of them. I've never been to South Korea. I'd like to go to Seoul. For me though, South Korea is a cautionary tale in what happens to a country when a handful of families get to control all the wealth, al…

I agree with most of your points. However, I can't quite agree with idealizing China completely (frankly, I don't think any government in the world is all that great). China has its own deep structural issues, such as the massive disparity between Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, the grueling 996 work culture, and the 'Tangping' movement. That being said, I can absolutely vouch for your deep understanding of Korea.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#172

Post by RemingtonDavies »

Concepts like this make me think about precision in products. When you spend 40,000$ on a computer chip you get a commodity piece of nm-scale precision. When you spend 40,000$ on a pink ivory coffee table you get a pile of wood with a maximum precision of 0.1-1mm. I'm just wondering what it would be like if atom-level precision was the main focus of every single premium product.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#173

Post by alephnerd »

poncho_romero wrote: post #153
alephnerd wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is still a form of orientalism which OP is pointing out. Japanese people don't work better or worse than anyone else, and most commenters think all yellow faces look the same and thus can't differentiate between a Japanese, Chinese, or Vietnamese working behind the counter at a konbini let alone other services jobs where Westerners are most likely to interface with.

> and most commenters think all yellow faces look the same and thus can't differentiate between a Japanese, Chinese, or Vietnamese working behind the counter at a konbini let alone other services jobs where Westerners are most likely to interface with. This seems quite presumptuous, and not all that different from the orientalism you're accusing OP of.

Presumptuous yes. Orientalism no.

Orientalism in the standard definition means the Western tendency to view non-Western societies in an "othered" or exotic gaze, be it in either a pedestaling or derogatory context.

Think yellow fever, weebs, ad nauseum conversations about Japan (and Asia in general) on HN and Reddit.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#174

Post by layer8 »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #138
layer8 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but my experience with what is considered a profitable project is firmly in the two-digits percentage range. Anything single-digit would count as a fairly low floor.

A lot of it depends on the risk. For something that has a profile more like venture you might need a 15-20% return. There are also fixed overheads so you also need an element of scale.

You characterized the risk-free interest rate as “a pretty high floor”. I find this surprising. How are 4–7% gains a pretty high floor? Year-to-year fluctuations often already are in that range.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#175

Post by Jblx2 »

sofixa wrote: post #135
throwaway2037 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We're a very car-centric society, and the Japanese auto makers have been a part everyday life to 3 full generations of Americans now. I assume "we" are Americans. I keep writing this over and over again on HN: There are NO highly developed non-micro states that are not car centric outside of major cities. Yes, literally, Japan, outside of a few large cities, is incredibly car centric. Sure, the cars are small and c…

> There are NO highly developed non-micro states that are not car centric outside of major cities. That's an argument. Lack of density means that public transportation is hard to have enough scale. But the US is uniquely bad at both density but also lack of transportation options. In countries like the UK and France (just because I'm familiar with them, I'm not claiming they're the only ones or it's something unique…

>In the US even multi hundred thousand people cities have literally nothing other than cars as an option.

I'd be interested in hearing an example or two of cities in the U.S. with populations greater than 200,000 that don't have a bus system.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#176

Post by jimbokun »

jmyeet wrote: post #107
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…

I've thought a lot about (and I don't mean this in a derogatory way) the weebu phenomenon. I remember encountering it first in college when I met people who were in an anime club. It wasn't for me but my philosophy generally is "let people enjoy things". I will say that it often goes beyond "idealizing". I'd use the word "fetishizing". I've wondered how much of this stems from being disaffected by the modern (particu…

1. It’s hilarious that your version of “cool” Japan was immeasurably worse in terms of things like misogyny, racism and war crimes than modern Japan.

2. Post WWII Japan set the benchmark for pulling its people out of poverty in an astonishingly short period of time.

3. There have always been foreign, exotic cultures people have romanticized. The Romans romanticized Greece and ancient Egypt.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#177

Post by jimbokun »

jdw64 wrote: post #120
jmyeet wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've thought a lot about (and I don't mean this in a derogatory way) the weebu phenomenon. I remember encountering it first in college when I met people who were in an anime club. It wasn't for me but my philosophy generally is "let people enjoy things". I will say that it often goes beyond "idealizing". I'd use the word "fetishizing". I've wondered how much of this stems from being disaffected by the modern (particu…

Are you angling for an 'Honorary Korean' title? You know too much about Korea

God forbid people learn about the world outside their everyday experience.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#178

Post by dec0dedab0de »

toephu2 wrote: post #42

> So why are Japanese companies like this? Why do they do so many different things? And how do they manage to do so all those different things so well? Author says: Japanese companies excel in lots of very different domains because it’s inherent in how they’re structured. My response: No mention of culture? Sure maybe it is because of how they are structured somewhat, but it's also because of their culture. Japanese…

Look at the best pizza place in the world, the best burger maker in the world.. they are not in Italy or America, but in Tokyo.

That's a bold claim. While I'm sure the average quality in Japan is significantly better than ours, I would put the best pizza places in Jersey, NYC, and CT up against anywhere in the world.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#179

Post by programjames »

thrawa8387336 wrote: post #9
programjames wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I clicked on the article to learn, "why Japanese companies do so many different things," and then got hit with pages of low-bitrate context, such that my eyes started glazing over and it was difficult to find the answer to the question. So I appreciate their compression, or at least pointing to where the answer is found.

Yeah not everyone is a reader these days

Not only is that implication rude, it's just not true. I am at least in the 95th percentile of amount of reading. I just think the article is poorly written. Not everyone is a good writer these days (or any days).

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#180

Post by dadoum »

I want to highlight that maybe today, big conglomerates are rare, but this is also because during the late-20th century, the trend was to break up conglomerates to increase competitiveness and improve financial performance of companies by focusing on the best businesses. If you look at the situation before that moment, Japan's situation would still be on the extreme side when compared to the other developed nations at the time, but not as unique I think.

In retrospect, I tend to think that this take was naive. It probably increased financial performance but it discouraged taking risks, and pushed the multidisciplinary skills out of companies in a way that is hard to reverse, inducing knowhow loss and probably slowed down innovation. But this is only my personal analysis and I am no economist.

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