Cracking the Japanese Market: Strategies for Success in the New Global Economy »

James Morgan is the author of the New York Times Notable Book The Distance to the Moon and the critically acclaimed If These Walls Had Ears: The Biography of a House. He also collaborated with Virginia Kelley, President Clinton's mother, on her bestselling autobiography, Leading with My Heart. Morgan's articles and essays have appeared in numerous national media, including The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post Magazine, Men's Journal, and National Geographic Traveler. He and his wife now live in Paris.

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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.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Growing Chasm

Why America Must Compete in Japan

The Tools to Compete

PART I

Islands in the Mist

1. Sunrise Over the Pacific: The Japanese Challenge

The Japanese Money Machine

Innovators, Not Imitators

Losing the Building Blocks

Symptoms of a Larger Malaise

2. The Japanese Way: Origins of a Merchant Nation

Nihonjinron

Poor Island Mentality

A Group-oriented Society

The Quest for Wa

The Status Hierarchy

The Power of Obligation

Education: The Acid Test

3. The Global Farmer: Inside the Japanese Market

A Nation with a Mission

The Command Economy

The Bureaucracy

Keiretsu — The Business Elite

Sogo Shosha

The Banks

Captive and Affiliated Suppliers and Distributors

Technology Specialization

Hurdles in the Japanese Market

The Capitalist Animal

4. The Customer Is God: Inside the Japanese Company

Kaisha: The Corporate Family

Consensus Management

Toward Anshin

Service as Religion

The Quality Obsession

The Loyal Supplier

The Importance of Commitment

Profile of a Salaryman

PART II

Doing Business with Nihonsha

5. Bushido: Way of the Samurai — The Japanese as Competitors

The Quiet Competitors

Using Market and Trend Analysis to Nibble at the Edges

From Components to Systems

Burrowing, Emersion, and Knitting

Deep-Pocket Commerce

Japanese Strategy in Action

The Future: Kokusaika and Inobeshion

6. The Japanese Success Quotient: American Companies in Japan

Characteristics of Winners in Japan

Revering the Customer as God

Controlling Your Own Destiny

Researching and Manufacturing the Right Productfor Japan

Building a World-Class Organization and Management

Embracing Cooperation and Competition

Ningen Kankei — Human Relations

Getting Back to Basics

The Attack/Counterattack Response

Emphasizing Similarities/Taking Advantage of Differences

Believing that Success in Japan Leads to Global Excellence

7. Applied Materials Japan: A Brief History of a Long Journey

Innocents Abroad

Applied Materials Japan

Growth and Competition

A Breakthrough

The Narita Technology Center

The 'Tough Old Samari'

Hard Times in Tokyo

PART III

Succeeding in Japan

8. Kick-Starting the Global Organization

Seeing Beyond America

Study the Japanese Market

Make a Company-Wide Commitment to Japan

Develop a Japanese Market Philosophy

Presence and People

Pioneering

Piggybacking

Partnering

Persistence

Other Considerations in Market Strategy

9. Defining the Japan Strategy

The Market Map

Modes of Entry into Japan

The Distribution Agreement

The Licensing Agreement

The Joint Venture Agreement

Selecting a Partner

The Power of Cooperation

Negotiating for Partnership

A Word about Mergers and Acquisitions

Global Partnership Model

The Japanese Subsidiary

10. Growing the Japanese Business

People

Facilities

Systems

Financing

Becoming an Insider in Japan

11. Becoming a World-Class Competitor

Testing Your I.Q. (International Qualities)

The Global Vision

The Global Company Model

Lessons from Japan on World-Class Competitiveness

Continuous, Incremental Improvement

Empowering the Workforce

Building Customer Linkages

Effectively Using External Resources

Cost-Effective Product

Design and Delivery Infrastructure

Superior Information Systems

Long-Term Thinking and Commitment

12. Challenge and Opportunity: The Keys to Success in Japan

A Realistic View of the Japanese Challenge

The Keys to Success in Japan

Shobai wa Akinai — 'Never Give Up'

The Time to Win in Japan Is Now

The Golden Age of Global Growth

Afterword: The America That Can Compete

What America Can Do

What Japan Can Do

A Bright Shining Future

APPENDIX A: Selected Foreign Company Performance in Japan, 1987-88 Estimates

APPENDIX B: Japanese Corporations with the Most Potential for Growth in the 1990s

APPENDIX C: Economic Comparison between Japan and Other Industrial Countries

APPENDIX D: Japan Database

1. Largest Japanese Banks

2. Largest Japanese Insurance Companies and Pension Funds

3. Largest Private Japanese Venture Capital Finance Companies

4. Research Institutes and Marketing Research Firms in Japan

5. U.S. Companies Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange

6. Selected Organizations

7. Recommended Publications

8. Comparison of Patent Systems in Japan, the United States, and Europe

APPENDIX E: Largest Japanese Companies by Industry

APPENDIX F: Japanese Business Meetings and Etiquette

APPENDIX G: Glossary of Japanese Terms

Notes

Bibliography

About the Authors

Index