When I graduated with an AI-related degree in the mid-90's, the only jobs in that field I could find were in Japan. I worked for a company that primarily produced chemicals and plastics, but got into semiconductors and also... beer? LOL you can probably guess which company.
Why Japanese companies do so many different things
431–439 of 439 posts
Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things
#432Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s that passive investing has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, because regardless of the company situation the funds have to buy the shares at any price, which has made it simpler for incumbents to grow and stay growing while burning profitability to the ground. Hence why there’s been a recent change to the rules on the Nasdaq so SpaceX/OpenAI/Anthropic can be included on the indices 15 days after IPO rather than…
Well - there is a giant push to allow non-qualified investors to invest their 401k (and roth and whatever) into the private equities market - pre-IPO companies and such. I can't shake the feeling of a grand fleecing incoming - and honestly, most big financial companies I know are against it because the blowback of inevitably bankrupting the firefighters&nurses pension fund will be congressional hearings and piercings…
There is talk among the more conspiracy-minded folk that short exposure to companies that were supposed to go bankrupt, and then didn't, has been rolled into esoteric financial instruments that were sold to retirement funds. If these companies in particular weather a downturn, while everything else is bleedig profusely, it'll be like a double whammy; the short hedge turned into another knife.
Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things
#433Earlier quoted context omitted.
The purpose of a system is what it does.
This is mostly a meaningless statement that can be used in any situation
It's a very meaningful statement when people claim that thing X's purpose is Y which is good, and therefore thing X is good, even though the actual outcome Z is not Y and in fact may be diametrically opposed to Y. Happens quite often.
I don't know if it really applies to the current thread, but I just wanted to point out that POSIWID is certainly not a vapid, empty concept.
Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things
#434It’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 fact that Samsung is kind of famous for just entering new industries left and right, and continuing to produce mediocre products while gaining enough experience to become industry leaders comes to mind. I feel like the blog post could apply to many countries
Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things
#435It is always fun to watch people debating about CJK. It would never end until the world ends. It gets more fun because now `westerners` joined the debate.
Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things
#436Earlier quoted context omitted.
The most recent video I could find about this was from like 7 years ago, very weird
Maybe try a book instead of YouTube. Not weird as it probably isn’t something that would get clicks
Disagree. Many less interesting things than a large functioning modern collective get millions of views.
Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things
#437It’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…
> legacy Waterfall model
Huh? I thought Agile was dead (it is) and we were going back to waterfall in the West already...
Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things
#438This is surprising to the modern mainstream tech because doing 'one single thing good' and identifying the company with it has become a phenomenon in the West. 'Who are we and what we do' questions get asked - as if companies and everyone in them were teenagers in search of their identities. In a way that is the case - the majority of startups having been staffed by very young people in the mid 2000s made early startups like teenagers themselves. Otherwise big, large companies have been diversified in the West at that time too.
Ironically things are going back to that - now every big tech company that once defined itself with 'one single thing', is trying to do everything to shore up profits...
Re: Why Japanese companies do so many different things
#439Earlier quoted context omitted.
Depends what you mean by "control". If you don't own a nice house, car, driver etc. but your company just happens to provide it as a perk, then you still have it.
That's a fair point. Is it actually common for CEOs to live on a company property? I can see how transport would be company controlled.
Yu Suzuki ("creator of Virtual Fighter") had 3 company ferraris. He played while his employees worked 14+ hours days. It's extremely common in Japan for bosses to get tons of perks and have their employees overworked and underpaid. Programming job in Japan start at $20k a year and except for a few western companies, peak at ~$50k a year. Be careful what you wish for