According to Reuters, a Japanese company has come up with a new way to track down grandmas, grandpas and anyone else who forgets where he or she is supposed to be. The company will use a satellite-based global positioning system and cellular technology.
The device has been developed by a firm led by the Mitsui & Co. trading house, which works like this; a transmitter is attached to a person's body or clothing. And when that person goes missing, a request is sent to find the wanderer. The transmitter shines the person's “coordinates” to a local server, and his or her location appears on a computerized map. Mitsui & Co. says it will test the device in Tokyo and Kikuchi City this year, and will then launch it. A spokesperson told Reuters, “We are definitely expecting a market to develop for the system.” Sure, they'll start with grandmas. But where will it end? This anecdote introduces us to the Japanese culture and their priorities. You may find this funny, or shocking but the problem is real and is unfortunately not a joke. How do you find the consideration of Human-being in this “anecdote”? Does it perfectly show us the clash of cultures with Western countries?
Nowadays, Japan faces a new crisis, even the specialists observed amelioration during the first semester of 1999, the recession is the most important since the World War. And its origins are due to a financial crisis which causes a vicious circle. The system is now reformed and the roots of Japan began to change. Throughout the essay, we will answer the following question: can Japanese Sogo-soshas become common in Europe and USA with the system and its current situation? That is why three main parts will be developed to understand the Japanese system – and especially the role of Sogo-sosha -, the crisis and the culture. We will first analyze the system in which evolutes the famous Sogo-soshas and the Keiretsus. Then some links between the different parts of a typical Japanese firm and the national institutions will be established. However, we will speak about the policies applied in Japan. What did firms and governments to obtain so much profitability?
In the second part, we will describe the industrialization of Japan with its history since Meiji. And we will observe figures to explain the success or the economic crisis and how it happens?
And in the last part, we will study some cases of Sogo-sosha based overseas with their “local” Management and the comparison of values, culture and priorities with Western countries.
[...] This enabled the major corporations in Japan to extinguish independent trade unionism and replace it with the system of 'enterprise unionism'. It is therefore reasonable to assume that enterprise unionism is a means of allowing further exertion of management power upon workers. The centre piece of the Japanese industrial relations system is the 'Shunto' or spring wage offensive. The Shunto began in 1955, shortly after the Japanese government implemented enterprise unionism. Basically, the trade unions agree wage settlements in the same period each year. [...]
[...] But no one can deny that the Japanese social and cultural setting has much to do with the establishment and development of Japanese manufacturing and its labor relations, and we need to consider the negative social consequences of the system as well as its economic benefits. We have to learn about the negative features of the Japanese system and to judge what parts of it might be adopted by other countries, like the United States for example, with a different cultural and social background and environment. [...]
[...] Department stores such as Itochu and Toyota also play a very important role in the Japanese distribution system like the profit earned by the international trade. An important factor is the protectionist aspect of Japanese system. The regulations are complicated and despite the liberalization of the import system in Japan, it is still difficult to penetrate the Japan market because of its structure. Most of the goods are freely authorized, to be imported. However, some products are subject to a license, especially the products that are restricted by quotas. [...]
[...] One of the major roles is not to buy or to sell but to invest overseas and to help their customers with dealing difficulties they can have with foreign languages, foreign governments and even taxation. In Japan, they distribute what they import and they ship and store what they buy. That's why it's logical that you can access Japanese market if you integrate a shosha. And what seems really incredible, profit is not the first goal of a shosha. But, since a decade, some groups decided not to have an intermediate in their own business and set up the shosha. [...]
[...] Throughout the essay, we will answer the following question: can Japanese Sogo-soshas become common in Europe and USA with the system and its current situation? That is why three main parts will be developed to understand the Japanese system and especially the role of Sogo-sosha the crisis and the culture. We will first analyze the system in which evolutes the famous Sogo-soshas and the Keiretsus. Then some links between the different parts of a typical Japanese firm and the national institutions will be established. [...]
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