SpongeBobNov 10th, 11:37
Steve Jobs summarised the problem for Japanese electronics firms... they have great hardware but very poor software. Sony is a great example: 8-10 years back I bought a beautiful network walkman, in hardware terms light years ahead of anything Apple could ever have produced or conceived, but the encryption software was shocking, and now even the operating software for it won't work properly on Windows. After buying one or two such products, you just stop buying anything with a Sony label on it anymore. Another Sony example: I can buy a much more advanced and cheaper camcorder in Japan with a Kanji menu, but the one with an English menu (NTSC, not even PAL) have less functionality and costs 20%+ more. Consumers are not fools, and they detest / blackball companies that treat them that way. Electronics companies that practice region controls and predatory regional pricing have completely lost their entrepreneurial religion and are destined for the scrapheap.
史蒂夫 乔布斯给日本电子企业的问题做了总结。。。说日本企业拥有很好的硬件,可是软件却很差。索尼就是一个很好的例子:在8-10年前,我买了一个很好看的随身听,就硬件来说,这种随身听在硬件上苹果公司是无法企及的,但是这里面加密的软件确实令人震惊的,而这款随身听的操作软件现在已经无法应用到微软的视窗操作系统上了。还有另外一个例子:如果是日本文字的菜单的话,我可以以更便宜的价格来买到一个更先进的便携式摄影机,但是如果该产品是以英文菜单来显示的话,那么这款产品的功能性更差而且价格还贵出了20%。消费者又不是傻瓜,他们很憎恨这些公司并且通过自己的行动来抵制这些公司。如果电子公司实行的是区域控制和掠夺性的地区价格策略的话,那么这些公司最终会完全失去他们的企业精神,并且最终注定被抛弃。
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Luis Felipe Rasmussin 回复 SpongeBobNov 17th, 20:45
I tend to agree with your views on this matter, but the characteristic you've mentioned can't be only seen as part of the Japanese firms; I myself had a Nokia cellphone which had terrible software (those old Symbians). I agree that being a costumer once does not make one to be a costumer forever (unless you're buying smth from Apple), though。
我有点同意你的这种观点,但是你所提到的特征并不不能成为日本企业的一部分特征;我自己就拥有一个诺基亚的手机,里面的软件也很烂(都是很老的操作系统)。我觉得一时的客户并不能保证永远都会成为一个公司的客户(除非你买的是苹果的smth)。
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edwardongNov 9th, 06:58
Actually, Japanese company profits or lack thereof are surely the result of the Yen rising from 100-110¥/US$ in 2008 to 80¥/USD currently. Which company can take that sort of currency change?
实际上,日本企业的亏损是由日元的升值引起的,从2008年的100-110日元的美元利率到目前的80日元的美元利率。有哪个公司能够承受得起这种货币变化呢?
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Anjin-Sanin 回复 edwardongNov 9th, 08:11
"Which company can take that sort of currency change?"
Well, Toyota did.
“有哪个公司能够承受得起这种货币变化呢?”
嗯 ,丰田做到了。
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AussieLouisNov 9th, 02:54
The biggest problem with corporate Japan is this 'ringii' or collective thinking. While this worked very well before, it's no longer an effective strategy.
The world has moved along, especially in terms of the increasing competitiveness of China and South Korea. The increasing innovativeness of industries in these two countries means that Japanese conglomerates need to change their global strategies to survive and compete.
A return to the consumer, as Toyota consistently does, and a change to individual meritocracy is the key to competitive innovation.
集体性思维或者“ringi”(这种集体主义的、整体的、和谐的决策制定过程有一个正式的表现形式,叫作轮议(ringi)制度。)是日本企业存在的一个最大的问题。但是这种思维在之前都能够发挥很好的作用,但是现在已经行不通了。
世界在继续向前推移,尤其是中国和韩国的竞争力在逐渐的增强。随着这两个国家在多领域变得越来越有创新型,所以日本的大企业们也要改变它们的全球战略来达到生存和竞争的目的。
以消费者为中心(正如丰田一直在做的)和进行英才教育是拥有竞争性创新的关键。
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BigPenin 回复 AussieLouisNov 13th, 08:43
Not convincing. Are you pretending to be a management consultant?
不够具有说服力,难道你是一名管理顾问?
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DHH5570in 回复 AussieLouisNov 13th, 09:55
I agree, in part, with your comment about the effect of ringi. Though an effective means of seeking approval/authorisation for complicated projects (the Shosha use it to great effect when reviewing large-scale project investment proposals), it is slow, involves far too many people and results in many innovative proposals and ideas being watered down and ultimately approved/rejected by senior figures who often have little or no understanding of the original proposal.
There is, though, a more fundamental problem which needs addressing in Corporate Japan: the Sempai (Senior) / Kohai (Junior) relationship. As someone who has just returned from a 3 year assignment in the Tokyo HQ of one of the larger Shosha, the single biggest impediment to change is the refusal of senior figures to listen / take on board the ideas of some surprisingly astute and internationally-minded younger employees. The Sempai orders, the Kohai obeys and that's it!
Corporate Japan needs to:
a) Flatten hierarchies - there are far too many levels of management
b) Rationalise (not remove) ringi - retain it but cut back on the number of people involved in the process thereby expediting the process and hopefully ensuring that individuals take more responsibility
c) Promote "individual" as opposed to "collective" responsibility
d) Promote staff based on merit - westerners always complain about the lack of opportunities for advancement but more important for Japan is to promote talent among their own. Length of service, university alumni networks, karaoke skills etc should not be the key criteria for promotion. HR Depts always seem to promote "safe" candidates who 'may not set the world alight but who will not rock the boat' over innovators which has resulted in the promotion of some depressingly ordinary individuals to senior level. The talent is there in Corporate Japan, they just don't seem to rise very far.
e) Finally (and this is something that at long last does seem to be improving, at least among the young), Corporate Japan really needs to get to grips with the English language!
我部分的同意你说的这个ringi制度所产生的效应观点。在复杂的公司项目上,这种制度不失为一种有效的获得授权和批准的方式(日本综合商社在评估大型项目提案时充分利用了这种制度,日本综合商社指日本一些掌控该国大部分进出口业务的特大型综合贸易公司,其中包括丸红(Marubeni)和三菱(Mitsubishi)等公司),但是这个过程很慢,牵涉到的人太多了,并且很多的创新型想法和建议在这个过程中都会被大打折扣,最终由一些高级领导人来决定来采用哪些想法或者是建议,而这些高级的领导人对那些原始的提案或建议都不怎么了解或者完全不知道。
但是,日企还有一个更加基础性的问题需要解决:高级经理人和初级经理人的关系。如果某日本综合商社的某个人之前被送到该公司在东京的总部进行3年的外派工作,等他回到原来的部门后,那些高级的经理们根本就不会听从这些拥有敏捷头脑和国际化视野的年轻人的建议,所以日企的改变才会那么的难。前辈们下命令,晚辈们遵守,这就是日企的规则。
日企需要做的事情有:
a) 消灭等级制度——日企拥有太多的管理层了
b) 对轮议制度进行合理化(而不是废除)——保持这种制度,但是在决策的时候减少参与的人数,因此才能加快决策的过程,这样子才能保证个体承担更多的责任。
c) 提高“个体”的责任感,而不是“集体”的责任。
d) 论功行赏——西方人老是抱怨缺乏晋升的机会,而对日本来说最重要的是在日本人中选拔出出色的人才。为公司服务的年限,大学校友关系网,去卡拉OK唱歌的技巧等等这些因素不应该成为晋升的标准。而人力资源部门一般倾向于晋升那些“安全的”候选人,这些“安全”的候选人没有什么杰出的才能但是也不会对创新者造成什么破坏性的影响,所以导致的一个结果是一些才华平平的人被选上了高级经理人的职位。日企中还是存在接触人才的,只不过他们还没有被足够的重视。
e) 最后,(还好,这种现象在目前渐渐得到了改进,至少在年轻人中间是如此的),日企真的得好好想办法来面对其英语问题! |