In its efforts to expand globally and compete with brands like H&M, Fast Retailing, owner of Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo, is establishing stronger international roots. Recently, the firm has opened stores in new cities including Paris, Moscow and Shanghai. The intercultural challenges and implications of these moves are plentiful, but the brand has already begun to tackle one obvious issue: in order to appeal to culturally distinct audiences, Uniqlo designers are collaborating with Jil Sander, a German fashion designer. In relation to this collaboration, The Economist writes

it will have to manage a multicultural, multilingual workforce—an area where Japanese firms often trip up. And merchandise will need to be tailored to national tastes, so scale will be harder to achieve.

In addition to the cross-cultural hurdles the project will present, founder Tadashi Yanai

is also unable to delegate, say Fast Retailing executives. He controls all decisions, down to approving samples and colours. Mr Yanai defends his meddling. ‘A good business manager’, he says, must ‘pay attention to the details.’

His behavior has influenced the departure of executives at Fast Retailing, which has made it hard for the company to name a successor, which is traditionally fulfilled through primogeniture. Nevertheless, micromanagement is a trait of hierarchical cultures, and Mr. Yanai’s intensive, “hands-on” approach fits the cultural tendency. Strong hierarchy is an important dimension of Japanese culture, and it is even built into the Japanese language. Modifiers and special words exists to differentiate between people of lower and higher status and age. In fact, according to RW3′s Country Profile on Japan,

these rules are taught at school where children learn to address other students as senior to them or junior to them. The more senior students are spoken to with respect and reverence. This carries into business. If two people from the same school work in the same organization, the more senior person is expected to mentor the more junior.

Do you think Uniqlo’s line of clothing has the potential to be successful around the world? What is your take on Mr. Yanai’s management style?

Sean

RW3 CultureWizard

What is culturally distinctive about Akio Toyoda’s apology to US Congress? Why does he mention himself in relation to the damaged Toyota cars? During his apology, he said, “All the Toyota vehicles bear my name. For me, when the cars are damaged, it is as though I am as well. I, more than anyone, wish for Toyota’s cars to be safe, and for our customers to feel safe when they use our vehicles.”

Read more about Toyoda’s apology.

Grayson

RW3 CultureWizard

In the Wall Street Journal, an article highlights the “secretive” culture of Toyota in relation to a series of recalls.

“Toyota is still very much run by its Japan headquarters, despite being active in the U.S. since 1957. Top leadership doesn’t include U.S. executives. The Toyota officials who run the recall process are in Japan.”

Because of this, Toyota’s US operations have not been able to react swiftly to safety issues that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has identified.

According to a person familiar with the matter, “what has really happened is a breakdown in communications within Toyota” between its D.C. office and Japan headquarters. “The Washington office didn’t have the information it needed to provide to the government.”

Why is this? While many of the facts are missing, a comment about cultural norms would shed some light on this issue. Communication in Japanese culture is quite indirect, and very hierarchical, which creates an obvious gap in understanding, e.g. when an American team is working remotely with a Japanese team. Certain information may be only for privileged executives, thus leaving a foreign team of less senior individuals out of the loop. Mistakes are viewed in a more negative light by collectivistic or group-oriented cultures, as in Japan, thus people will strive to avoid giving bad news or making direct confrontations to save face and to maintain harmony.

It will be interesting to see where exactly communication broke down for Toyota. Where do you think is may have occurred?

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Josh

RW-3.com

Although there are many professional Japanese baseball players, Hideki Matsui has certainly made baseball more than just an American sport. One sentence in a recent New York Times article caught our “cultural” eyes:

“In a oft-repeated story, a young Matsui switched to left-handed pitching and hitting so that youths playing against him would have more of a chance.”

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

In any adversarial game, people from individualistic cultures (e.g. Australia or US) would find this confusing. In collectivist or group-oriented cultures, as in Japan, the well-being of the group is highly important. Another related example is in the concept of giving and saving “face,” or the idea that one’s reputation is built upon the actions of the larger group. For Matsui, he was exhibiting his cultural preference to help his peers succeed rather than stand out as an extremely unique and talented player.

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Valerie

RW-3.com