Inside the Kaisha: Demystifying Japanese Business Behavior [Hardcover]

Noboru Yoshimura (Author), Philip Anderson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0875844154 | ISBN-13: 978-0875844152 | Publication Date: March 1, 1997

Written by an experienced Japanese manager and an American scholar of organizational behavior, this book presents a series of apparent contradictions in Japanese business conduct. The authors show why behavior that appears inconsistent to the Westerner is perfectly congruous to the Japanese way of framing the context of the situation or using a particular model to guide behavior. The book is organized around six puzzles about Japanese business behavior that perplex outsiders. The authors unravel each puzzle in a systematic way to demonstrate why, from the Japanese perspective, the behavior is in fact appropriate and consistent. For each puzzle, the authors generate a set of specific insights that can be used in everyday business practice.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Five or six years ago, I stopped reading explanations about how Japanese companies operate. My own experience had outstripped the content of most books, the details of which were often inconsistent with my observation and therefore suspect. But Inside the Kaisha meets my tough standards. It introduces a new perspective within a real-world context. I intend to recommend it to members of our organizations and even to hand it to new employees as they come through the door. -- William J. Lambert, Executive Vice President & Director, Horizon Systems Lab, Mitsubishi Electric Information Technology CenterAmerica

Yoshimura and Anderson provide a healthy antidote to much of the mumbo jumbo about Japanese business practices perpetrated by journalists, businesspeople, and management consultants. -- The New York Times Book Review, March 16, 1997

From the Publisher

Winner, Best Industry Analysis/Business Context Book of 1997, The Financial Times/Booz-Allen & Hamilton Global Business Book Awards

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press (March 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875844154
• ISBN-13: 978-0875844152
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #217,792 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars solid and realistic intro to confusing behaviors, May 8, 2001

By 

Robert J. Crawford (Balmette Talloires, France) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inside the Kaisha: Demystifying Japanese Business Behavior (Hardcover)

It is a sad commentary that, now that Japan is no longer viewed as ascendant, critical and better books are coming out than existed (or were known) previously. I think that we did not want to know about the flaws underneath the facades we constructed, though many of us suspected them.

This book takes a good, stark look at the arcana of dealing with Japanese businesses. It is a world where appearences are more important than realities, where superficial politeness hides brutal power relationships, and where the correctness of routine is more important than the reasons - strategic or otherwise - behind them. In practical terms, this reveals that what a lot of us thought about Japan in the 1980s was in fact meaningless ritual and blind procedure (following and copying), couched in nice terms ("tatemae") that so many of us took at face value. The reality underneath, the uglier side of things, is almost invariably truer than the nicer versions. And now that Japan is seen as a beleagered backwater, we have no problem believing the worst.

That makes this book VERY valuable. Unfortunately, it is written like an academic business book, which means its style is rather plain, rather than with the vividness of journalism. But that may be my own bias.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the first and last book you need to read on Japan., September 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Inside the Kaisha: Demystifying Japanese Business Behavior (Hardcover)

My 10 years of experience with the Japanese (including 4 different Japanese companies) has provided me with endless cases of dumbfounded bewilderment at Japanese behavior. Upon reading Inside the Kaisha, I found succinct, clear explanations of Japanese thinking and behavior which totally agree with my life experiences. Hats off to the meticulous research and easy-to-read writing style!

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a must-read for everyone who's interested in Japan, April 6, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Inside the Kaisha: Demystifying Japanese Business Behavior (Hardcover)

For a long time Japan business and society have puzzled even its own insiders, it is no longer so after this book. "Inside the Kaisha" describes a society where its people make their date-to-date decisions not based on a set of core values, but on model behavior which varies upon different context. Highly egalitarian from the outset, yet its language effectively enforce a caste system based on seniority and acquired social status. Japan's splendid economic success has spurred global imitations of its business behavior, yet outsiders often failed to understand its culture which is the primal driving force. This book successfully establish such link and I think its essential for everyone who's interested in Japan