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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

#191

Post by lern_too_spel »

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…

The author discusses the zombie problem. I don't think the author is romanticizing this system. Instead, he is explaining why this system exists (as a result of WW2-era industrial reforms that were kept in place instead of discarded), and why that system naturally leads to a certain set of outcomes. West Germany also had to rapidly catch up after WW2 to suit America's Cold War purposes, and there are some similarities to J-firm structure there, but I'd be interested to hear the author's take on why it ended up somewhere else.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#192

Post by tuna74 »

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 all the foreign-things Japan is now famous for: Japanese Whiskey, Denim, bread making, Japanese curry, etc."

I think all your examples are terrible (bread) or overpriced (Japanese Whiskey). There are also a lot of places that are pretty crap in Japan like restaurants where they clearly don't really care.

Compare to Italy that wherever you go everything seems really high quality. I was in a gas station in the middle of nowhere and I had a really great cappuccino for example.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#193

Post by busterarm »

kibwen wrote: post #132
busterarm wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Unions are a poor solution to a worse problem. It's like if your roof was sagging, so you propped it up with a rotten log. You might be tempted to remove the rotten log, but that just means your roof caves in. Unions exist to antagonize company owners to keep them from indulging in their worst excesses when it comes to abusing their employees. Removing the union just means unleashing that unchecked power. A better so…

Or don't move into a house with a sagging roof. Most of the companies that I've worked in my adult life were perfectly fine places without any collective bargaining or ownership.

And I made orders of magnitude more money as an employee in those situations than I did otherwise. The average salaried employee's work grievances are petty to annoying and outside of that either wouldn't be solved with collective bargaining (or ownership shares) or would be solved via the legal system.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#194

Post by fyrn_ »

maxglute wrote: post #182

Isn't this functionally GE, Bell Labs etc before MBAs.

Also due to tax structures changing in ways the discouraged long term r&d for existing companies. Largely replaced with a university driven model today, or hyped based fake it till you make it startup investment

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#195

Post by xandrius »

ExoticPearTree wrote: post #110
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…

> Japan takes Western concepts, and applies an obsessive cultural devotion to mastery (Shokunin). Thank you for explaining this. I was alawys amazed how the japanese would take the cuisine from other countries and make it better in all aspects than the country that originated it.

Why are people saying that the Japanese counterpart of other cuisines are better? Have you guys eaten the originals?

OP mentions curry, bread, pizza, etc. Those are things most gaijins complain about when in Japan!

Can't find a proper piece of bread that isn't sweetened, or you find a French chain doing something almost similar but still not on par with breads found in France.

I helped at a pizza shop near Fuji city and while it was not bad, they weren't quite there yet.

I can say that some foods are not bad but saying that they do things inherently better? C'mon now.

Still haven't found a decent thai or indian restaurant in Japan, and probably never will, given the general aversion for strong spices.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#196

Post by sofixa »

Jblx2 wrote: post #175
sofixa wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Arlington, Texas is an illustrious example. Almost 400k people and it has nothing.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#197

Post by floatrock »

etempleton wrote: post #25

My experience in American organizations is that products and services need to not just make money, but make a lot of money. There is zero appetite for things that make a little bit of money relative to the cash cows of the company. You could say this is in part focus, but it is also based on internal accounting. Small product lines are saddled with total company overhead costs even if they do not apply to said produc…

> There is zero appetite for things that make a little bit of money relative to the cash cows of the company.

The other side of this is only new baby firms invest in that thing that makes a little bit of money. But given enough refinement, that thing starts making more and more money as it gets better and better. And soon, that new baby firm outshines the incumbent. The incumbent's wasn't incentivized to invest in the thing that started off worse but eventually became the new model. Think Kodak with film-vs-digital cameras.

This was the thesis of 1997's The Innovator's Dilemma, written by the guy who coined "Disruptive Technology".

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#199

Post by ryukoposting »

jimbokun wrote: post #159
ryukoposting wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll preface this by saying there are lots of other factors at play, but here's an interesting one I can speak to personally: Car culture. 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. Even most Baby Boomers are too young to remember a world without Honda or Toyota. Across all age groups, a lot more Americans grew up with a fondne…

If anything Korean culture might be even cooler than Japanese culture in the US right now.

I know what you mean. It's like I woke up one day and everything was Kpop Demon Hunters.

Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things

#200

Post by ExoticTiger »

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…

Japan will remain Japan regardless of how outsiders choose to view it. I’m not sure why China or Korea need to be brought into the discussion for comparison. Saying this as a proud Sansei living in America.
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