DECIPHERING THE JAPANESE CULTURAL CODE

Huge US and Western European trade deficits with Japan indicate that Western firms are doing a worse marketing job in Japan than Japanese firms are doing in Western markets. One critical difference: Japanese executives have figured out how Westerners basically think; by and large, Western executives have learned much less about the Japanese. This paper contends that neglecting Japanese cultural factors limits marketing success, and can even lead to failure. Key Japanese anthropological concepts are explained, for the purpose of revealing how they create opportunities or problems for Western firms. Implications are discussed with emphasis on how sensitivity to Japanese values can be integrated with marketing planning.