Inside the Kaisha

"Appropriate behavior depends not only on the context everyone shares; it also depends on each individual's position relative to others within the context."

"The emphasis on emulating a prototype allows an individual to justify behavior toward others by referring to well-recognized guides."

"The salaryman habitually asks himself what a person in his position is supposed to do, not what he thinks or how he feels"

"The methods one uses to achieve goals are more important than the results."

"The insider-outsider distinction depends on the situation."

"A reference group sets forth models and expectations for its members."

"Japanese and American cultures have different thresholds of intimacy, points at which one feels free to disclose personal information."

"Harmony is an outcome, not a fundamental axiom of Japanese behavior."

"There are two principal translations of the word trust in Japanese, and they are quite different."

"The most important definition of winning is "not losing.""

"Japanese people are much more motivated by the fear of appearing inferior than they are by the desire to succeed."

"Behind fierce competition lies a fundamental level of cooperation that rests on an agreement to allow competition to proceed only so far and no farther."

"The Japanese are very long-term thinkers"

"In the appropriate context, Japanese businessmen are as focused on near-term results as are any of their Western colleagues."

"It is no accident that firms set ten-year plans on their ninetieth anniversary instead of their eightieth, or fifty-year plans on the occasion of the president's fiftieth year with a company."

"Clear goals and ambiguous ones coexist within Japanese firms."

"The shareholders of Japanese companies don't hold top management responsible for achieving concrete goals."

"Decisions are made and ratified within the kaisha by circulating a ringi-sho, a consensus-building formal document that must be stamped by each recipient to signify his assent."

"Control systems in a Japanese company are hard to observe from the outside because those in power try to hide their power."

"It is quite common for the Japanese salaryman to work for many years getting only subtle signs indicating what superiors think of him."

"One tactic the kaisha uses is to let many years pass before it becomes clear who is ahead and who is behind."

"Salarymen want Westerners to understand that they apply different models in different settings and do not particularly value consistency when circumstances do not call for it."