Japanese Business II

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course introduces Japanese business networking, involving a complex interplay between government and its administrative organs, the keidanren, industrial federations, banks and financial institutions, affiliated firms and subcontractors, national trade union centers, the consumers association, and informal cliques such as the zaikai, seikai, kankai, and gakubatsu. Japanese businesses are traditionally aligned to banking and financial institutions, supply/distribution channels, and the like, and they extend vertically and horizontally through informal cliques. Together they form a constellation of opposing and/or supporting interests. While Japanese companies are accustomed to working within this framework domestically, how they maneuver in respect of their practices in foreign cultures and, indeed, how foreign companies in Japan customize their operational strategies to fit into this mold are also topics of great interest and are investigated.