Japanese Corporations

A “kabshiki kaisha” is a joint stock company; it is translated to mean, “sharing a company.”

These are what is referred to as the Japanese corporations. The first ever corporation to be started in Japan is the National Bank of Japan, and over the years such corporations have grown bigger and bigger. Due to the world war that destroyed Japan, they decided to modernize and expand their industrial companies, which has formed the more substantial part of the corporations. The starting up capital to be in a corporation was 10 yen though right now it has been reduced to 1 yen. Even though the starting capital was cut, there are things that the corporations that had listed with 1 yen could not do. This included being barred from issuing dividends; they were also advised to grow their limit to 10 yen within the first five years. (Kang and Shivdasani, 1995). For one to join a corporation, they had to have receipt of capital and the article of incorporation prepared and notarized. Either one person can do a corporation or more although by 1980s seven incorporators were required to form a corporation. At this time of age, a corporation is not restricted to a group of people or companies it can also be of one person or one company.

The Japanese managing style is a bit different. Here, they use the method of frequently reporting to their executive leaders, informing and the executive leadership makes consulting within the lower ranks to make important decisions before the final one. They also have deeply rooted values in these corporations systems. (Kang and Shivdasani, 1995). The Japanese believe in giving good quality service and goods to the public ,being fair and honest in their dealings, pulling abilities in the group and working successfully as a team to achieve better results, being cordial and humble to other people, abide by the laws applicable to everyone and being grateful for the blessings

received. This has made the Japanese corporations perform exceedingly well.

Hiring, is done based on the safety, reliability, dependability, work-life balance and an excellent corporate brand. Most of them work in one or top two companies in their lifetime. They are hired on their superb performance, but the most important values to be considered is a good personality, character, a sense of corporation and being able to be persistent always (Abegglen and Stalk, 1985). Promotions are founded on how good one is solving and identifying problems. However, the higher positions to be promoted to are few compared to the ones capable of being there.

Japanisation, is whereby the Japanese way of life dominates other people’s way of life. For instance, Japanese music and videos have become so popular in South Korea and Taiwan. In the corporations the employees are expected to be very involved with the companies, they are supposed to be loyal to the companies. The employees and employers also get trained in a broad base; they get to understand how to work in other areas not related to their careers, this has improved their knowledge and expertise in different fields. Decision-making is done in a “ringi” method where a proposal goes round to the same group employees before it goes to the Executive

Board for discussions.

Japanese corporations are very effective when it comes to making agreements through a consensus. Whether, it is in government agencies, businesses decision are made through a consensus. They do this through engaging in debates throughout the organization when there is a proposed decision until an agreement is attained and it until then, are decisions made. This may appear to be a tough method of making decisions and not every experienced manager in the US will support this since it can lead to politicking and indecision (Abegglen and Stalk, 1985). A consensus in decision-making helps to Japanese corporations to understand more information about the decision and to understand if there is indeed a need for the decision.

Despite the many advantages of the Japanese corporations, there exist several limitations. Many of Japan’s white-collar workers experience a lot of stress because they work as hard as ever. Moreover, a few Japanese workers acquire the physical comforts that result due to prosperity. In reality, they get little satisfaction from their efforts making them frustrated. Besides, employees are supposed to spend their weekends and evenings learning how to operate the machines making them have little time with their families. Employees also find a hard time of work when they are given a boss they do not like causing them to have a negative attitude to their work.

References

 

Kang, J. K., & Shivdasani, A. (1995). Firm performance, corporate governance, and top executive turnover in Japan. Journal of financial economics, 38(1), 29-58.

 

Abegglen, J. C., & Stalk, G. (1985). Kaisha, the Japanese corporation. Basic Books.