According to (NIKČEVIĆ, 2015), organizational culture evaluates the strategy to allow or stop it from being implemented by legitimizing it and making it actionable. In this paper, I will discuss the differences in organizational culture between the United States and Japan, the impact of organizational culture on business strategies between both countries and the importance of conducting an environmental survey in implementing strategies.
Comparison of Implementation of Business Strategies between the USA and Japan:
Organizational culture can be defined as the set of values, beliefs, and principles that groups, organizations, and even countries believe in (Ouchi & Wilkins, 1985); according to (Isac & Remes, 2018), the differences between the United States and Japan in the mechanism of implementation of business strategies can be summarized in the following:
Differences: Japan has a long-term strategy for growth, while the United States adopts a short-term approach to achieve quick profit, so the focus is on quality in Japan. While the United States focuses on cost, Japan depends on customer awareness of product efficiency and quality; on the other hand, the United States relies on mass production; also, the difference in how employees deal with their leader; American employees respect a leader with a strong personality who inspires and influences them, as for Japanese employees, they prefer a leader who includes them, shares their work with them and is part of their work and not alone in the decision (Isac & Remes, 2018).
Similarity: according (to Yancey & Watanabe, 2009), both Japanese and American cultures depend on long working hours for employees yearly, which encourages its employees to do more than other cultures that rely on the welfare of workers, like Western European culture, for example.
Cooperation Ways: A strategy consistent with the organizational culture of both countries can be formulated. This strategy works to bring the cultures of the two countries closer and suit their employees. This strategy can be adapted to benefit from Japanese culture within the framework of quality and stability in the market in the long term. American culture can benefit from quick profits and mass production.
Importance of conducting an environmental scan:
According to (Magsi, San Ong, Ho & Hassan, 2018), environmental scanning helps the organization to better understand the culture of the surrounding environment and how to deal with it, for example, when analyzing survey data that was conducted on random samples of employees of a country, we will understand how to handle the behaviors of these employees and craft a strategy that works well with their culture, environmental scanning identifies strengths and weaknesses, identifies opportunities, threats, and optimal use of resources and finally, help in making a strategic decision that works on the company's long-term growth.
Conclusion
The role of a successful international leader is to identify and understand the differences and similarities between countries' cultures and formulate a strategy based primarily on the organizational culture of these countries; this organizational culture will legitimize the proposed plan, and it works to achieve the maximum benefit from the strategy in the short and long term as well (Isac & Remes, 2018).
References
Isac, F. L., & Remes, E. F. (2018). The Relationship between Culture and Strategy–A Managerial Perspective Approach. Studia Universitatis Vasile Goldiș Arad, Seria Științe Economice, 28(3), 76-85.
NIKČEVIĆ, G. (2015). Organizational Culture and Its Implementation in the Choice of Strategic
Option - Case Study Montenegro, https://business.expertjournals.com/ark:/16759/EJBM_206nikcevic2014pp37-46.pdf
Magsi, H. B., San Ong, T., Ho, J. A., & Hassan, A. F. S. (2018). Organizational culture and environmental performance. Sustainability, 10(8), 2690.
Ouchi, W. G., & Wilkins, A. L. (1985). Organizational culture. Annual review of sociology, 11(1), 457-483.
Yancey, G.B., & Watanabe, N. (2009). Differences in perceptions of leadership between U.S. and Japanese workers. The Social Science Journal, 46(2), 268-281. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2009.04.004