East Asia

In this chapter we are going to analyze a cultural case from East Asia: the management convergences and divergences between korean firms and japanese firms. Our guide text for the analysis is: "What makes management style similar and distinct across borders? growth, experience and culture in korean and japanese firms" by Jangho Lee, Thomas W. Roehl and Soonkyoo Choe. 

According to the authors' definition "the convergence assumes that as countries develop, management systems will converge to a model found in developed countries. The other, the comparative cultural approach (divergence), is based on the assumption that a wider set of cultural norms in each society is a powerful force for differentiation".

When firms get a bigger size or when they undertake international activities, the management system turns into a more sophisticated practice, that is why many firms try to imitate the management styles from bigger companies, which have had similar management problems and their outcomes were successful, this means both driving forces (a bigger size and international activities) make the management styles tend to convergence to a single model, the most developed and the most successful. So the firms that are in this situation must face two kinds of pressure: a domestic pressure  that tries to  preserve culturally determined forms of management and the pressure from international markets that encourages firms to conform with the conventional international norms, under these circumstances,  it has become a real challenge to keep an equilibrium position between these two approaches.

As firms became larger and internationalized, the main statements of the different management styles tend to converge to the most developed model, however the dimensions that are directly tied with some aspects of the national culture tend to lag this change and sometimes to avoid it.

This article also compares the similarities and differences between the korean management style and the japanese management style. Many authors state that korean model is almost a copy of the japanese model, the reason is the years of japanese occupation into the korean territory, this situation allowed the direct influence of japanese traditions among the korean people, however there are some essential cultural differences between both management styles, for example the koreans give more importance to the blood ties, that's why is very common to see korean companies managed by an entire family, also the koreans state a more individualistic orientation and are so respectful for the hierarchical differences, so these features are reflected in their management style, the korean managers tend to be authoritarian and do not give the enough recognition to their employees to take into account their suggestions, the employment system is characterized by the frequent employees turn over, there is not a real stability in the jobs. Besides the korean government has a high involvement in the companies' performance, it helps them through credit, foreign exchange rationing and supervising the private investment plans.

Meanwhile the japanese culture has other features that differentiate its management style, the japanese state a group orientation, that's why is very important for them the employees' ideas, the consensus and the loyalty. A strength of their manufacturing process is the flexibility to adapt the product to the changing market requirements, this shows a sinchronized connection between the product design area and the production. Also the japanese firms are eager to introduce new technology in their manufacturing process. The japanese firms tend to establish a solid and long- term partnership with their suppliers in order to consolidate a competitive advantage based on the mutual trust, direct communication, flexibility and cooperation to develop joint projects. In the sales management area, it has always been important the market share and all those strategies which focus on the growth of the market participation, for example the pricing strategies.

The proposed question for this topic is:

1. In the case of korean and japanese management styles, do you think they tend to converge or diverge? Are they likely to converge to each other or to other management style?

Definitively both management styles tend to converge to each other because they share many elements of a common cultural background and some deep beliefs and values related to religion and social principles such as the harmony promoted by the Confucianism. Also the companies from both countries have reached large sizes and have established an international orientation in their operations, this means that management styles are going to adopt all the roles or parameters that fit better with the international market requirements. In my opinion  it is more feasible that korean firms learn from the management strategies of the japanese companies because the latter ones have more experience in the international market  and because some korean firms have as their main competitors japanese firms, which manufacture the same product that they do, so there is no  better way to learn than observing your most successful rivals.

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