Product Description

Global business today is played by new rules -- many of which are being written by the Japanese and their remarkably successful companies. Because the Japanese are redefining business as we know it, Western companies expecting to profit from the new global marketplace must first learn to compete and succeed against the Japanese in Japan.

James C. Morgan, Chairman of Applied Materials, Inc., the leading supplier of advanced processing equipment to the worldwide semiconductor industry which does about forty percent of its business in Japan, and J. Jeffrey Morgan, who has worked in Tokyo on the "inside" at Mitsui & Co., Japan's oldest trading conglomerate, contend that apathy and ignorance have prevented many Western companies from capitalizing on the enormous opportunities for business in Japan. In this brilliant examination of Japanese markets, companies, and business practices -- with special emphasis on the establishment of Applied Materials Japan -- the Morgans, father and son, assert that success in the world of Japanese business is determined by two factors: technology and relationships. Candidly discussing their own mistakes and failures as well as their triumphs, the authors provide invaluable insights into the specific challenges facing Western companies in establishing a presence in Japan: problems in financing the venture, product design and production, marketing and distribution, and most important, creating long-term relationships or "putting on a Japanese face." The extraordinary success of Applied Materials Japan -- hailed by George Bush on the campaign trail in 1988 as "a model for all America" -- is testimony to the valuable lessons to be learned from this book.

The Morgans provide a clearly written, step-by-step framework for reorienting company thinking, revising corporate strategy, and revitalizing any organization for world class competitiveness. Using vivid examples of Western companies that have both succeeded admirably and failed miserably in Japan, Cracking the Japanese Market is a straightforward examination of what it takes to compete successfully there -- and by extension in the world today.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2129170 in Books
• Published on: 1991-04-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 295 pages

Review
Andrew S. Grove President and CEO, Intel Corporation The Japanese market is a tough one -- perhaps the toughest in the world. This book embodies the experience of a firm that learned to compete in that market and succeed. -- Review

Review
Akio Morita

Chairman, Sony Corporation

The first book to reveal the genuine opportunities -- along with the challenges -- of doing business in Japan. Cracking the Japanese Market is must reading for anyone serious about succeeding in Japan...

Robert Galvin

Chairman of the Executive Committee, Motorola, Inc.

Cracking the Japanese Market is a telling examination of what it really takes to compete and win against the Japanese in Japan. It is full of practical advice and strategies almost any company can use.

William H. Davidow

General Partner, Molar, Davidow Ventures

Pragmatic. Practical. Insightful. This is the line manager's guide on how to be successful in the Japanese market. The book is worth five years of practical experience.

George Stalk

Co-author of Competing Against Time

The Morgans have developed an argument for virtually all modem companies to compete in Japan. They show how with detailed case studies of successful Western companies including their own success story -- Applied Materials.

Andrew S. Grove

President and CEO, Intel Corporation

The Japanese market is a tough one -- perhaps the toughest in the world. This book embodies the experience of a firm that learned to compete in that market and succeed.

About the Author
James C. Morgan is chairman and chief executive officer of Applied Materials, Inc., the world's largest independent manufacturer of semiconductor equipment. Mr. Morgan is a member of the National Advisory Committee on Semiconductors, which advises President Bush and the Congress on a national strategy to strengthen the competitiveness of the U.S. semiconductor industry. He is also co-chairman, with Akio Morita, of the Japan-Western U.S. Association.

Customer Reviews

All other agreements and partnerships should be considered as stepping stones to a direct operations strategy
1. All other agreements and partnerships should be considered as stepping stones to a direct operations strategy.
2. The operation should be designed to begin and support a close relationship between your company and your Japanese customers.
3. The Japanese operation should permit long-term control of company product, services, and technologies.
4. The closer you get to the marketplace, the clearer your understanding of opportunities.
5. Build opportunity and reduce risk.
6. Select and entrust a Japanese Leader too provide credibility, influence talent to join the organization, and deal with customer relationships.
7. Plan and invest long-term
8. Build local research, engineering, and manufacturing capabilities.
9. Establish sales offices and new distribution channels in Japan
10. Integrate computer and communitcation linkages between your US and Japan business entities
11. Globalize and strive for worldwide quality and service programs; create globalized benefit structures and a Global oriented Human Resource management team; develop a global corporate culture.
12. The Japanese people view the job as an extension of family environment and a determinant of social status and their sphere of relationship through out ones life.
13. Highest on the incentive priority list for job selection is the company's stability and long-term commitment to the employee. In "Japanese Society", the author quotes, "Employment with a foreign firm is regarded as outside of the the system...This reluctance comes first from the feeling of insecurity about the future,[American firms do not guarantee lifetime employment]. Critical Employment strategies include: developing a relationship with professors, as key mentors, gaining press converage, submitting articles in technical journals and career magazines. Selecting the right corporation is important for Japanese men; Japanese men are ranked by group or the corporation they belong or their connection too well known and strong individuals. Applied Material hired manager Tetsuo Iwasaki and he used his influence to recruit and attract talented young Japanese willing to take the risk and join following his leadership. Iwasaki gave credibility and attracted others to follow.
14. "Focus on hiring a good core management team and let them build staff." "The opportunity for more responsiblity and quicker rise through the ranks is a guenuine attraction for Japanese". Hire retiring executives from Japanese companies and government ministeries. Seek Japanese members for your board or advisory groups. Synergy borne of diversity is one of the principal benefits to be derived from doing business in Japan. Japanese manager looks at personality and character and potential skill, instead of actual skill in hiring.
15. "Foreign companies fail to get the best from their Japanese subsidiaries simply because they don't accord them the respect they deserve." The parent company must internally promote the Japanese subsidary, its products, market team, and manufacturing. Relationships are the true source of power in Japan. Japanese management should always lead customer relationships and empower them with capacity.
16. Japanese banks are becoming more willing to loan to foreign business seeking local financing. Establish an early relationship with a Japanese Bank and find someone to make the introduction. The Japanese Bank will make the critical business partner introductions and they will voucher for crediblity and trust worthiness and arrange ample financing.
17. Keep a management team that is close to Japanese decisionmakers: banks, industrial groups, MITI, and other management groups. Keep decision making authority local and close to the market; recruit from top Universities; operate in the local currency.
18. Cycle time reduction is critical to the success of today's global competitor; it is key to being responsive to the customer, which in turn is a prerequisite to the development of strategic partnership with customers, ablility to manage variety, respond to a niche strategy of the competiton. Improvements will have have a tremendous impact on the size of the opportunity a company can effectively manage.
19. Workers should have a sense of loyality, a feeling of ownership and responsiblity, for every company function and activity, as a major company asset.
20 Technology must focus on customer needs and be committed to the success of the customer's business
21. The Japanese have succeeded in penetrating far-reaching markets beccause they have built world-class information networks.