Doing Business in Japan
When a business or organization deliberates on wither they should enter and/or open a new office in a different country there are many things that they have to consider. One main factor a company should consider is if the cultural difference is too wide to implement their company structure and how they want there company to be run. Entering and opening a new business in the wrong cultural environment and country can often lead to miscommunication, misunderstandings, stereotyping, lost opportunities for sharing information, lack of mutual respect, and a culture shock to both parties1 If you were to compare the difference between the vertical U.S system to that of the Japanese nemawashi consulting system, you will notice that there are many advantageous and disadvantageous from using either system to make a business decision. The term nemawashi is defined as the informal process of gathering support for a major change before any formal actions are taken; nemawashi can cover many different business aspects such as identifying potential problems, creating ideals, and discuss them with their different colleagues2. The Japanese culture differs greatly from that of the United States, they do not like to lose face or bring embarrassment to themselves. The Japanese do not like surprises, being unprepared or taking risk when conducting business. By using the nemawashi consulting system the Japanese’s are able to talk to their fellow colleague to get their opinion on an ideal or to discuss a potential problem they foresee. These practices allows for the Japanese to get a firsthand understanding if their ideal is on the right path, if it needs to be completely redone, needs to be fixed or any problems that could potentially happen, and fix them before the first formal meeting. Some disadvantages of using the nemawashi system that there might be problems that they did not foresee happening. Another disadvantage could be that the proposed plan or