Japan Case Study

In the International Spotlight: Japan
Question 1: Based on their home country, how might the

organizational cultures of the four fashion companies mentioned
(H&M, Zara, Luis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co.) be distinct from one
another, and in what ways could they be the same?
The organizational culture first of all describes the values and behaviours that
contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization. It
includes the organization’s expectations, experiences and values which hold the
organization together. Furthermore, the organizational culture embraces the shared
values and beliefs that enable the members to understand the organizations rules,
beliefs, customs and written and unwritten rules. Each country has a own
organizational culture. In the following are some examples explained.
Zara is a company based in Spain. The Spanish organizational culture is strongly
influenced by the Spanish culture as trust between the employees and the managers is
developed on a basis of frequent and warm interpersonal contact. Furthermore,
contracts are seen as long-lasting relationships. Social competence is very important
as the Spanish culture is famous for being very familiar. In contrast in France
intellectual competence is more important. A contract is seen as a reasonable
transaction and workers earn have to work a lot for earning trust. Meanwhile Sweden
migrates more towards the incubator culture, the USA seem to move more towards a
guided missile culture.
_____________________________________________________________________
Question 2: If the first two companies and the last two companies
want to form joint ventures (Zara + H&M, Luis Vuitton + Tiffany&
Co.) what could be some potential ways the organizational cultures
interact?
People are raised in culture. Each country/region has some kind of an own culture
what means that we are all different depending on how and where we have been
raised. Same happens to expectations we have towards the organizational
performance of our working place. This also happens to the organizational culture of
companies. Depending on where they are the organizational culture might variate.
According to the Hofstede theory the national culture values of employees have a
huge impact on their working performance. It is also a fact that the culture behaviours
and values an employee might bring to the workplace cannot be changed that easy by
the company, they will always somehow influence each other. Zara and H&M are
similarly structured as both tend to people oriented cultures. Spanish companies use to
be more hierarchically structured with strictly separated divisions and a strong
hierarchical system. There used to be a very bureaucratic organisational culture which
is changing now due the increasing number of young managers educated abroad. On
the other hand, Sweden is more structured on equity. France, where Louis Vuitton
comes from, is more role-oriented and the USA more project focused. Both
companies emphasize the task at hand.
______________________________________________________-
_____________________
Question 3: What types of problems might a culturally

diverse top management team at headquarters create for the
two joint ventures? Give some specific examples. How could
these problems overcome?
The number of possible problems if you build a joint venture is huge. As already
explained before, each country has its own organisational cultures and different ways
of thinking, acting and working. This also is reflected in the way companies work.
One possible problem might be the different attitude towards authorities. In Japan
they use to ascribe status to parent figures while Americans normally give titles based
on the contributions of the individual to the different projects. Another big difference
is the way of learning, thinking and implementing knowledge at work. Japanese
employees are more intuitive and error correcting while the Americans tend to be
problem focused and practical. This and many other things might create problems at
the time of forming a joint venture as each party is used to handle things different.
Communication – a thing that is always very important – becomes even more
important in those moments.
_____________________________________________________________________
______
Question 4: How could work structures and schedules of these

companies at their respective headquarters affect operations in
Japan? In what ways are they different or similar?
Hofstede once found out in a research, that employees which work for multinational
corporations tend to become kind of more patriotic. The result reflects that Germans
become more German, Americans more American and French people even more
French. As said before, People are raised in culture. Each country/region has some
kind of an own culture what means that we are all different depending on how and
where we have been raised. The majority of time this is also reflected in how we
work. All this could affect the project in Japan because of the cultural differences.
When employees start working for a multinational operation, they need to adapt to the
differences. Anyway there are some general differences in culture which could easily
cause organisational problems. One of those problems could be the vacation rules of
each country. Meanwhile in Spain people tend to take off all their holidays in
July/August, Swedish people are used to take the four weeks of July. Considering the
schedules there are some countries which still have the 9 to 5 rule while there are
other countries where people are used to flextime. All those things have to be
reminded before creating a Joint Venture.
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How might the organizational cultures of the four fashion companies mentioned be distinct from one another, and in what ways could they be the same?

What types of problems might a culturally diverse top management team at headquarters create for the two joint ventures? Give some specific examples. How could these problems overcome?

In the International Spotlight: Japan

Question 1: Based on their home country, how might the

Question 3: What types of problems might a culturally

Question 4: How could work structures and schedules of these

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