Japanese German Business Relations

This volume approaches the history of Japanese-German relations from a business history perspective. Starting with an overview of Japanese-German relations which focuses on the environment, strategies and forms of inter-firm relations, Akira Kudo then uses case studies to provide a broader picture, before finally considering strategy, organisational strategy and technology and management transfer in the light of problems identified earlier.

This volume approaches the history of Japanese-German relations from a business history perspective. Starting with an overview of Japanese-German relations which focuses on the environment, strategies and forms of inter-firm relations, Akira Kudo then uses case studies to provide a broader picture, before finally considering strategy, organisational strategy and technology and management transfer in the light of problems identified earlier.

How are German capitalism and German business management to be understood from the perspective of Japan? Both Germany and Japan as defeated nations in World War II received significant American leadership and support after the war. Both countries developed their enterprises, industries, and economy by deploying and adapting technology and management methods from the United States while establishing systems of industrial concentration in their own ways. By these means, both nations became major trading countries. However, current economic and business conditions differ greatly between Germany and Japan. In trade, American influence on Japanese business is still strong. Japan could not and cannot establish a complementary relationship with American industrial sectors and their products in the American market. In addition, a common market structure like the E.U. does not exist in Asia. In contrast to Japan, Germany developed independently from the American influence and became part of a well-integrated regional economy. What were the driving forces that created those differences? That question is approached from a Japanese point of view in this book, based on the assumption that the origins of distinct characteristics of German business management after World War II were developed in the 1950s and ’60s. The book analyzes the transformation of business management in Germany and explains the characteristics and structures of German management. The author describes how the development of German companies determined the current German condition— “the Europeanization of Germany”—while the world faced the globalization process. Demonstrating the basic foundation of European integration by analyzing market factors in Europe as well as the internal structural transformation of management in Germany, this book is a valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate students, educators, and researchers in the fields of business management, business history, and economic history.

This volume examines the mutual images formed between Japan and Germany from the mid-nineteenth to early twenty-first centuries. Exploring previously untapped historical sources, the contributions by seventeen leading scholars create a more nuanced picture of Japanese-German relations.

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1 (A), University of Bedfordshire, language: English, abstract: Even though Japan is mostly westernized it remains being traditional Japanese. It has a hierarchically structured culture and society and contains complex rules for interpersonal situations and relationships (Kazuo Nishiyama, 2000, p. 1-9). The Japan culture and society varies from the German. Those differences in cross- boarder alliances are sources of potential conflicts and misunderstandings in business relationships (Susan C. Schneider and Jean-Lois Barsoux, 2003, p. 9). Especially the way of verbal and non-verbal communication: Japan is a high context culture. Many information lay “between” the lines (in the context). Germany in contrast to that is a low context culture. They give precise information in a direct way. Japanese are more introverted and restrained than the Germans. The importance of face keeping (for e.g. not showing emotions public) is another main difference. In Japan the status of a person (often linked to its age and experience) is important (Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Hall, 1987, xvi). But also some little specific differences can cause huge problems. For example the differing attitude towards bribe and gifts can cause difficult misapprehensions. This summary of some of the main differences shows that there are many varieties that can cause problems in business. This gap between the German and the Japanese culture is unconditionally to considers, important to know in detail and very helpful to internalize in doing business with Japan as a German company.

In the twentieth century, dyes, pharmaceuticals, photographic products, explosives, insecticides, fertilizers, synthetic rubber, fuels, and fibers, plastics, and other products have flowed out of the chemical industry and into the consumer economies, war machines, farms, and medical practices of industrial societies. The German chemical industry has been a major site for the development and application of the science-based technologies that gave rise to these products, and has had an important role as exemplar, stimulus, and competitor in the international chemical industry. This volume explores the German chemical industry's scientific and technological dimension, its international connections, and its development after 1945. The authors relate scientific and technological change in the industry to evolving German political and economic circumstances, including two world wars, the rise and fall of National Socialism, the post-war division of Germany, and the emergence of a global economy. This book will be of interest to historians of modern Germany, to historians of science and technology, and to business and economic historians.

This edited volume examines the American influence on West German and Japanese industry from the 1950s to the 1970s, providing a valuable contribution to the debate on 'Americanization' from a historical and comparative perspective. Individual contributions provide an in-depth analysis of the adoption and modification of management and technological issues from the US in West Germany and Japan at the micro-economic level.