Page 6
Reader Forum
Cultural barriers limit
U.S. auto sales in Japan
President Bush's recent Asia
trip attempted to reduce the trade
deficit with Japan. Few disagree
that balanced world trade is good
for America. However, reducing
the Japanese trade deficit alone
will not lift America from
recession.
The automobile executives
traveling with the President
expressed their displeasure about
exports to Japan. In a speech to
the Economic Club of Detroit,
Lee lacocca was especially critical
of Japanese trade practices.
"We need to use our own
weapon: good old fashioned
American impatience?" he
shouted. "That means demanding
a solution to the problem now.
And retaliating now if we don't
get it.”
Mr. lacocca gives new
meaning to the phrase "ugly
American." He is seldom bashful
about making outrageous
statements.
In the early 1980's, Mr.
lacocca lashed out to customers,
suppliers, workers and the United
States Government for help in
saving his ailing company. With
immense economic aid from
many sources, Chrysler emerged
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During the process of helping
Chrysler, the federal government
obtained shares of Chrysler stock.
As the company's balance sheet
strengthened, the value of the
shares held by the federal
government increased.
Mr. lacocca asked the U.S.
Treasury not to sell the stock. He
felt the federal government was
not morally entitled to make a
profit o.i Chrysler stock.
Once again, Mr. lacocca is on
the offensive, armed with half
truths and patriotic oratory. This
type of rhetoric may work in
restoring Ellis Island, but it will
not balance the U.S. trade deficit
with Japan.
American cars have not sold
well in Japan because U.S.
automobile makers never faced
the reality of the Japanese
market. Significant Japanese
cultural barriers are the true
reasons limiting exports.
Japan is a fully industrialized
nation with a population of 125
million people, about half the
population of the United States.
The land area of Japan is roughly
equal to that of Montana.
Because much of the land is
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mountainous, 70 percent of the
nations population lives in an
area covering only 20 percent of
the country. Almost 75 percent
of the population lives in cities.
In contrast to the United
States, Japan has few minority
groups. Koreans are the largest
minority group in Japan, yet they
comprise less than 1 percent of
the population.
Japan never experienced new
waves of immigrants as the
United States did during more
than 200 years of free existence.
The lack of cultural mixing,
combined with high population
density, contributed to the
formation of a diverse culture.
Confronted by extreme
crowding, Japanese culture
emerged in a different direction
from Western tradition. With
ample land and natural resources,
American frontierism based on
individual skills and ability,
surfaced as the ideal of American
culture.
Even American art often
highlights the individual rather
than the group. The work of
Winslow Homer comes to mind
as a good example. In one
painting, Homer depicts a single
farm house in the middle of a
field of wheat. In the foreground,
a young girl sits in the wheat
field, alone.
On the other hand, Japanese
culture must have cooperation in
order to succeed in an
environment with few natural
resources and constant population
pressure. The need to obtain
informal group consent
penetrates Japanese society.
Without preserving the group
consensus, Japanese society
would sink into an uncontrolled
condition.
Faced with the need for social
harmony, Japanese society
maintains a set of special cultural
traits that provide a social glue to
hold society together.
In Japan, one does not do
what one wants. One does as
expected. Japanese society
consists of a complicated network
of mutual obligations within
different groups of people. These
groups form family-- like
structures resembling households.
Members of the household,
termed ie, share on which is an
indebtedness or burden owed to
another person.
Depending on the type of on,
repayment of debts owed to
others may be done with
mathematical equivalence or may
be unlimited. On owed to the
emperor and parents is
continuous and is never more
than partially fulfilled. However,
on owed to others of similar rank
is repayable with mathematical
equivalence.
For example, suppose a
strong wind blows my hat from
my head. A colleague picks up
the hat returns it to me. Now
indebted to my colleague, I
cannot simply say thank you and
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be on my way. Rather, I must
return the favor by a similar act.
If a long time passes before an
opportunity to return the favor
exists, 1 must do a greater favor.
Japanese society tends to form
into many small groups (ie) with
strong vertical linkages within
each group. The concept of ie
becomes a principle of industrial
organization that involves
reciprocal relationships and
mutual duties.
Japanese society also exhibits
a strong sense of hierarchy. Inside
each group, members understand
their position within the
hierarchy. The Japanese language
even has special words to
reference a superior and altogether
different words to address a
subordinate.
The bonds created in each
group tend to be a one to one
relationship with a clear superior
and subordinate. These vertical
linkages combined with o n
relationships result in a highly
structured society.
For American auto makers to
do business in Japan, they must
understand the traditions of the
Japanese market. Despite
outbursts by industry leaders such
as Lee lacocca, the big three auto
makers cannot use cultural
ignorance as an excuse for failed
business opportunities.
Edmund W. Schuster
Lecturer of business
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