business

Secrecy, hierarchy haunt Japan's corporate culture

24 Comments
By Linda Sieg

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24 Comments
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"Are they really any worse..." Pathetic.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

When the corporate world infiltrates the regulatory system and amakudari bureaucrats get nice sinecures for doing the corporations' bidding it is no surprise there are few penalties for any wrongdoing. It is not just the corporations, the whole system is rotten.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

"...not legally binding..."

Also given the Sharp deal in Taiwan taking two tries it's clear "governance" isn't internationally compatible

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Hell will freeze over before an outsider director will challenge anything the CEO does.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The biggest problem with Japanese business is the hierarchy. You have all these 50+ 'jijis' in suits and a desk who have not renewed their education for 30+ years telling everybody what to do while they sit around waiting for the next round of golf and listening to the flipping Carpenters. Every year in April they scan possibly hundreds of applicants for new jobs. They look for the ones with good academic skills and potential only to give them a desk and show them how to use the coffee machine for other employees. The college I work in does interview training for job hunters and their main point of an interview is to just sit there and say, "Yes!" They do not want people to show their personality or special skills. Just people who will do what they are told. This is what keeps Japanese business and culture a generation (or two) behind the rest of the world.

13 ( +14 / -1 )

all the hot air on corporate governance over the last 2 decades and nothing much has changed.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Disillusioned nailed it. It's even worse if you're young and female. College degree & future aspirations in hand, only to be relegated to an admin position (hell, the term 'OL' doesn't even exist outside Japan) doing menial tasks & serving tea / coffee to the oyajis. I wish that were an exaggeration.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Yep, one big Japanese name after another caught up in a scandal or illegal activities in the last couple of years: General Motors, VW, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, UBS, and many many more.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

Japan has a 99% conviction rate, in the meantime, browsing the crime section will show no J-INC being convicted of anything it seems, one can conclude they are above the law.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Sit down and watch Akira Kurosawa's "The Bad Sleep Well"'. It's based loosely on "Hamlet", but it's also a scathing indictment of rotten and corrupt corporate culture...in the 1950's and 1960's!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

“If you start looking around the world, Japan has its problems, but are they really any worse than anywhere else?” said Andrew DeWit, a professor of policy studies at Rikkyo University in Tokyo.

those are the words of a man who knows the clear answer, but fears for his position in Japan. A lack of integrity, unfortunately.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

“If you start looking around the world, Japan has its problems, but are they really any worse than anywhere else?” said Andrew DeWit, a professor of policy studies at Rikkyo University in Tokyo.

Ah yes, the old "downplay-my-wrongdoing-by-saying 'what about them'?" finger-pointing move. Typically heard from the oyaji generation, often preceded by air being sucked through the teeth.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Always a number of people that just have to say... well it happens in other countries too. It would be nice for once to try to hold Japan, an outwardly extremely honest country, to a higher level of integrity. The flip side of comparing is that it is defeatist in its nature.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@ Clamenza,

"those are the words of a man who knows the clear answer, but fears for his position in Japan. A lack of integrity, unfortunately." I totally agree, i did a search on him and this came up. Appears he is brought and paid for as is his opinion.

He is lead researcher for a five-year (2010-2015) Japanese-Government funded project on the political economy

6 ( +6 / -0 )

That should read: Secrecy, hierarchy haunt Japan's culture

3 ( +4 / -1 )

start throwing a lot of 'em in jail for criminal acts and then see how the culture changes

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@ Tony Alderman "Hell will freeze over before an outsider director will challenge anything the CEO does."

Retail group Seven & i named an executive backed by U.S. activist investor Daniel Loeb as president of its parent company last month, prompting its 83-year-old patriarch Toshifumi Suzuki to resign.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

He is lead researcher for a five-year (2010-2015) Japanese-Government funded project on the political economy

Bought and paid for indeed. He could write a one paragraph thesis on Day #1 (Everything great, leaders doing all they can. Things looking up!), and enjoy a 5 year paid holiday

4 ( +4 / -0 )

also, unless all the new graduating student hires are financial accountants it'll be a long while

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Corporate Japan's balance sheets are the Chernobyl of accounting irregularity.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@ Clamenza,

Check this out (moderator just more info on Mr DeWit) http://apjjf.org/-Andrew-DeWit

0 ( +0 / -0 )

We foreigners can say what we think, but at the end of the day! We are not Japanese. That is the problem, it's always "we" Japanese and not "I". We try to help though

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@anotherexpatMay. "Corporate Japan's balance sheets are the Chernobyl of accounting irregularity."

How about ... Corporate Japan's balance sheets is the fukushima of accounting irregularity, as it is still out of control and information being hid under very big carpets.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

TEPCO and Takata should have been #1 and 2 on this list of most damaging.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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