By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge

In response to Richard Solomon's (Beacon Reports) very thoughtful piece first questioning and then analyzing the ability of Japanese firms to complete globally (see: Can Japanese Firms Compete In Global Markets?), I had written an article entitled "Can Japan Compete Globally? You Betcha And Here's Why".

The purpose of my article was not only to surface and then to debunk what I see as a plethora of Myths and Memes that continually surface in the media and in our daily conversations regarding Japan but also to help us all question the other Myths and Memes that govern our lives.

Of the many comments I've received, I'm mostly interested in the comments that disagree with my article or point of view because these help test the soundness of the arguments I've forwarded.

Here is an example of a common but very thoughtful response which is in disagreement with my arguments:

I say "not yet" (Japan can't compete) - because of the inner structure of Japanese companies. Everything takes just too long. They are usually too late, so foreign competitors, for instance Indians have already landed deals while Japanese still circle around decisions."

Here's my reply to such comments.

I. Speed of Decision Making: What Is The Real Value?
No one with any amount of first hand Japan business experience will doubt or question the generally molasses-like decision making process found within Japanese companies and organizations.

However, the speed of decision making is just but one important aspect of a country's competitiveness although, to be sure, there are first mover / early mover advantages to be had as well as disadvantages to consider and avoid. There is also the timing of a decision for economic or other reasons to consider.

But beyond the speed of decision making, it would be wise to consider both the quality of decision and decision making process as well as the ability to execute effectively.

II. The Empirics Trump The Myth & Meme 
For for all its warts, blemishes and shortcomings, Japan is still the number three economy in the world.

Japan's GDP stands at 5,87 billion USD.
India's GDP stands at 1.89 billion USD.

Japan's GDP is 3.1 times larger than India's. Or conversely India's GDP is just 32% of Japan. Put in yet another way, India's GDP is less than one-third the size of Japan's.

Can it be any clearer than this?

(notes: recently we have seen large fluctuations in exchange rates,especially with regard to the devaluation of the rupee; see BBC News - Indian rupee falls to new low against US dollar, August 28, 2013;  these GDP figures come from 2011; ).

Now let's consider the case of India further.

Are you tired of reading about Japan from the "Japan is Weird" school of journalism?

You know, such as the debunked story about the supposed "Japan eyeball licking" craze.

So are we.

Interested in real, actionable expert advice on Japan? 

You'll find it here.

The fact is news on Japan, from the Western media and Western perspective, normally falls into one of two categories, basically it's a bi-modal distribution that looks like this:

1. Japan is a cyberpunk weirdo country, where eyeball licking is the country's new favorite past time.

...or...

2. Japan is a robotic, lobotomized colony of Borg, ala the "Japan, Inc." or earlier "Yellow Peril" memes.

It's no wonder, then, that so many foreign firms underperform or fail in Japan.

But now there's a third school of journalism about Japan -- from the FirstPoint Japan school of journalism and it features actionable, ROI-based, expert advice.

It may not be as sexy or titillating as the eyeball licking or Akihabara maid cafe stories but it'll help you grow and accelerate your business in Japan at best and in the very least it'll ensure you keep your job.

The Japan Expert Insights section of FirstPoint Japan is now live. In this section, we'll 
explore and explode the myths and memes of what it really takes to do business 
and succeed in the Japanese market today.

From innovation, diversity, recruiting, staff retention, business development, software internationalization and localization and more!

FirstPoint Japan's Advisory Board member, Kim Pedersen, was just interviewed by Asia Biz's Howard Lim. This is a very fascinating interview as Kim is one of the few foreigners to have been educated in the Japanese public school system rather than shipping of to the English-language curriculum's found in the international schools.

By James Santagata
Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge

Richard Solomon of Beacon Reports recently wrote a very thoughtful piece first questioning and then analyzing the ability of Japanese firms to complete globally (see: Can Japanese Firms Compete In Global Markets?)

I. Myths & Memes
As so often happens with this and many other topics, ranging from war to innovation to relationships and dating, the question itself is beset if not hobbled with a series of Myths and Memes which we'll explore and unravel together in a series of future articles. 

II. Are Japanese Baseball Players Good Enough For Major League Baseball?
My first thought upon reading this article was simply how it parallels this modern reality: Are Japanese baseball players good enough for major league baseball?

Think about it.  We used to ask this very same question about Japanese baseball players. Could Japanese baseball players make it in the major leagues?  Sure, we all knew that the Japanese players were solid players, they were good, no one disputed that but we wanted to know could the Japanese baseball players really make it in the major leagues? (see: The New Age Of Japanese Baseball-Player Media Coverage Sam Robinson May 9, 2008)

III. Can Japan Compete Globally On A Military Basis?
From historical records we know that the Japanese can compete globally, industrially, cultural and, yes, even militarily. So let's start with the military perspective. Militarily, the fierce fighting tactics and spirits of Japanese soldiers during WWII lead to horrific allied battle casualties, both physical and psychological (see: Thousand Yard Stare), that in many cases easily outstripped what was encountered in the European theater (although there are obviously some exceptions). And, of course, some of the fiercest battles of WWII were held in the Pacific theater: Tarawa. Saipan. Midway. Coral Sea. Marshall Islands, Eniwetok. Guadalcanal. Iwo Jima, and, of course,Okinawa all come to mind along with the horrific casualties and loss of life among both soldiers and civilians.

FirstPoint Japan is pleased to announce that the Ethical Recruiting Alliance (ERA) is now an official sponsor of the FirstPoint Japan and will be certified that the recruiters, executive search consultants and recruiting agencies listed or operating on the FirstPoint Japan platform are ethically-certified.

A Comparison Between Japanese & Danish Work Environments & Its Influence On Work Life Balance, Part 3
By Kim Pedersen (Guest Blogger)

Originally, roukan.com was created in an effort to contribute to the improvement of the Japanese working environment. The reason for this is that having worked for both Japanese and Danish companies in a number of different roles I had been privy to seeing two completely different working environments and most importantly how these work environments affect a company, the workers' productivity  and the workers' quality of life. I will try to describe some of the key differences between the two countries below. Please bear mind that this description obviously will include some generalizations so it will not necessarily fit nor describe all companies. That said, it does describe and compare the most common differences and I hope you find it useful.

In Denmark, there are many workers who are very happy and satisfied with their job. They are professionals and they want to make a difference for their company. Further, they are actively engaged in the company’s activities and they contribute any way they can. This also means that they may well find it necessary sometimes to express an opinion which goes against their boss's opinion if their professional knowledge tells them that it is in the interest of the company to do so. This is not only considered completely legitimate behavior, it is expected behavior in the Danish work place. This is the ethos of the Danish work environment: As a worker, you are paid to contribute to the company with all of your knowledge and you, therefore, must speak up when you have critical knowledge or information. When you do so, you will typically be respected by your co-workers and even management for sharing your honest opinions and knowledge. In general, there is a good atmosphere in the Danish work place where the interaction between employees and superiors is sound and healthy. A healthy interaction, in turn, makes it possible for the company to find critical issues in time and to develop lucrative alternatives that nobody in the management layer of the company may have thought of or previously considered. There many advantages to be gained by respecting your workers and giving them the opportunity and right to speak up as well as giving them credit for and acknowledging their contributions.

Compared to this Danish working environment, however, a lot of Japanese people tend to think that work not fun, but a necessity, a burden or duty we all bear and that we have do our best at. Of course it depends on the person you ask, but as time goes by, many Japanese tend to get settled in their present situation and think that that's just the way things are. They are very proud of their jobs, but as Westerner, sometimes you wonder, what about it is about their job that they are so proud of. Japanese companies, by and large, are known for creating “Yes-men”, meaning whatever the superior officer orders, the worker must obey and follow. The worker's professional opinion is often secondary or even totally ignored no matter the situation or the effectiveness of his opinion. This really reality can really damage a person’s pride and directly and negatively impact his degree of satisfaction with life. This dissatisfaction most often comes out on display after working hours, when Japanese workers go to an “Izakaya” (Japanese-style pub) together, and engage in shop talk and bitch sessions about their bosses. And so it goes day in and day out, month in and month out, year after year. It's a never ending story for many Japanese workers. Yet, Japanese workers seem to have accepted that this is how things work as most of them just don’t know any other way nor see any other alternatives to their present situation.

Working Environment Comparisons Between Two Different Countries, Part 2
By Kim Pedersen (Guest Blogger)

In my first article, I explained the overall reasons as to why a healthy working environment (WE) is so important. In this article, I will try to explain how it is possible to get an overall picture of how employees perceive their working environment, and how it is fairly easily to pinpoint the most critical WE problems which exist in the company. The ability to pinpoint the problem makes it easy for a company to take action which in turn can save a lot of money for the company (this will be explained in the next article).

The charts:

Please take a moment to become familiar with the charts below. They should be easy to understand for everybody so take a few minutes to think what kind of WE these two different charts might represent:

FirstPoint Japan's Candidates section is now live (日本語話せる候補者に対して)

FirstPoint is not a recruiting or executive search firm, but rather serves as a platform for individual recruiters and executive search consultants as well as executive search agencies that who are ethically-certified by the Ethical Recruiting Alliance to advertise for and interact with bilingual candidates who are looking for opportunities in Japan or the greater APAC market as well as with Japan firms that are expanding their operations overseas.

候補者が抱く疑問は多くあります：

• キャリアの次のステップとして何がベストか？
  
• いつ、どのようにしてそれを得るべきか？
  
• 誰を使うべきか？どのようにしてリクルーターを選んだら良いのか？
  
• リクルーターとどのように生産性の高い付き合いをするべきか？
  
• 今の自分の業界から出るべきか？
  
• どのような機会があって、どのように機会を最大化するのか？
  
• どのようなリスクがあって、どのようにリスクを最小化するのか？
  

これらの疑問は、特に高い価値を持ち、異動してキャリアを築く候補者にとっては大変重要なものです。


候補者の方が人間的、職業的に成長していけることをゴールとしてサポートするのが私にとって重要であり、候補者へのプレッシャーや拘束は一切ありません。
下記が業界経験を基に候補者を支援した内容の一例です。 

FirstPoint Japan is very pleased to now have the Asia-Pacific Coaching Alliance as an official sponsor.

The Asia-Pacific Coaching Alliance (APCA) is exclusively focused on serving the unique needs of the dynamic and fast-growing  Asia-Pacific market as an educational, professional networking organization and knowledge base.  

APCA covers the entire region from Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, India, Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam to Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and beyond by providing high-impact and ethically-grounded solutions for coaches of all disciplines: career, personal, life, executive, business, conflict resolution, personal relationships and performance coaches.

The Asia-Pacific Coaching Alliance (APCA) prepares coaches of all stripes to Coach For Impact!™ and works to develop localized solutions that best fit the unique markets of Asia.