Doing Business in Japan: Honor, Loyalty, and Saving Face
By Clark Roundy, Luxul Wireless VP of Marketing
In 17th century Japan, a Samurai lived by a strict code of honor and loyalty to his lord. Honor (and acquiring wealth) was what he lived and died for. In modern day Japan, while many things have changed, honor and loyalty remain fixed within the Japanese character. Key to honor is the concept of “saving face”—the Japanese will go to great lengths to avoid embarrassment. The loss of face is not easily forgotten nor is it easily forgiven.
In some harsh corporate cultures in America, you win by cutting someone else. In Japan, if you do something that makes someone look bad (even inadvertently), they may smile and seem ok on the surface. However, behind that smile may be someone that now feels the need to become a roadblock to progress in order to save face—either ending the deal outright or perhaps waiting and acting as saboteur later on when it may be too late to change direction. On the other hand, by finding a creative solution to problems or concerns, you will have an advocate for life and strong supporter in making the deal move ahead.
At Linux Networx we were fortunate to have strong partnerships to help navigate the Japanese business culture. One of the largest customers was a major government lab that had purchased a multi-million dollar system. Because the system was built around newer, state-of-the-art technologies, there were inherent challenges in the deployment and operation of the system. Nonetheless, the customer was willing to take the risk—based on personal relationship and the prestige of having one of the top 50 supercomputing systems in the world.
As it turns out, the system fell short of expectations and even though the risks were understood beforehand, the lab director needed to save face. As head of international operations, I was “invited” to a meeting at the lab and was placed in the lonely position of facing 12 stone-faced lab executives across a gargantuan table in a conference room designed to intimidate. Even my distributor had conveniently found his way to the opposite side of the table. Fortunately, he had fully prepared me for what was to take place and we had also done our homework to present alternatives to resolve the current predicament. To make a long story short, the lab director saved face and my reward for helping him do so was an additional seven figure order and a friendship that persists to this day.
Japan is indeed a society of complicated relationships and obligations. And, from a business perspective it works—somehow, creating a balance between fierce loyalty and shrewd negotiations. When doing business in Japan, never underestimate the importance of personal relationships or the role that honor, loyalty, and saving face will play in your success.
About Clark Roundy, Luxul Wireless VP of Marketing
Clark Roundy is VP of Marketing at Luxul Wireless. Throughout his 20 year career, he has worked extensively with early stage and emerging companies to identify core competencies and implement key growth strategies. Mr. Roundy has held key executive positions at Linux Networx, Penguin Computing, Parvus Corporation, Alta Technology, and the Eyring Research Institute. His roles have included sales and marketing leadership, strategic planning, international business development, product management, and professional services program development. In his role at Luxul Wireless, Mr. Roundy is responsible for marketing strategy and oversees all outbound marketing programs as well as product and brand management.
The content of this blog reflects the views and opinions of the author, and not necessarily those of Utah Business.
Tags: Business in Asia, Business in Japan, Cultural Differences, Distribution Partnerships, international business, International Expansion, Japanese Culture, Saving Face