Changing Dimensions in International Business Author(s): Magoroh Maruyama Source: The Executive, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Aug., 1992), pp.

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? Academy of Management Executive. 1992Vol. 6 No. 3

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hanging dimensions in interational business

Magoroh Maruyama, Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo
Executive Overview

Changing international business management situations generate new practices, methods, and approaches. This article highlights some recent changes and gives concrete examples. At the same time, old problems which have not been solved require new solutions.

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In My View

New Trends As the number and types of firms undertaking out-of-country manufacturing and sales increase, competition becomes keener not only in market share but also in obtaining high quality employees. For example, workers in foreign towns who until recently depended on a small number of foreign firms as a source of employment may by now have several more alternatives, and they can be more choosy. In fact, early firms which felt established and secure have begun to lose their qualified employees and potential applicants to new-comers who offer more attractive or challenging work environments. Job hops have become more frequent among foreign engineers and professionals. The choice criteria are no longer limited to wages, fringe benefits, working hours, and aesthetic quality of work place, but include considerations such as cross-national career advancement, management adaptation to local cultures, and opportunity to travel in foreign countries. Firms which are not competitive in these new dimensions will eventually suffer or fail. Cross-National Career Advancement Promoting a foreign employee from Country A to country B is called "cross-national career advancement." It is a wide-spread practice among continental European firms. Among American firms it is not yet common, but a select few do practice it already. Electrolux, a Swedish firm, had a French director in its factory in Singapore. Thomson, a French electronics firm, had German, Irish, and Japanese engineers working together in its laboratory in Singapore. A manager of Hyatt Hotel in Jakarta was Danish, who subsequently was transferred to Egypt. The head of Michelin-Okamoto in Japan is a German, even though Michelin is a French firm. Until recently Scandinavian Airline System did not practice it in its Tokyo office. The effect was negative. In a small local office of twenty people, one cannot advance very far if there is no cross-national career advancement: young ambitious applicants are not attratcted. Assurances G6n6rales de France does not practice cross-national career advancement in its Tokyo office. Even though this is not the only reason, the office cannot easily find capable young Japanese applicants. Cross-national career advancement cannot be successful without adequate employee selection or training. This topic is discussed later in this article.
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Management Adaptation To Foreign Cultures Those who are cross-nationally promoted are usually at managerial, technical, or professional levels, because those at lower levels have some room for advancement inside the country. Therefore, cross-nationally promoted employees usually assume a managerial position in a culture which is foreign to them. They must be capable of management adaptation to the host country culture. Culture does not just mean how to greet, how to eat, and how to dress. It also means how to interact and how to organize. For example, a very common mistake American managers make in Japan is to organize the work by dividing the task and assigning them to individuals. If you have five employees in your office in Japan, it is better to give the whole work to the group and let them figure out how to do it. Experienced Americans know this, but even some of them misinterpret the reason. A common misinterpretation is that the Japanese are homogeneous and everybody wants to do the same thing. On the contrary, the Japanese way of carrying out a task is based on the principle of interactive heterogeneity, while the American way is based on the principle of categorized and specialized heterogeneity. The principle of interactive heterogeneity has deep roots. While Greek philosophers and European scholars were writing books on social organization and interaction, the Japanese were developing and refining their principles of interaction and expressing them in architectural spatial composition, garden design and floral arts. European architecture was based on principles of unity by similarity and repetition, opposition, tension, and extension. Windows of the same shape are repeated. Each space and each mass has a boundary, identity, and a permanently specialized function such as a dining room or a bed room. Masses oppose one another. Spaces oppose one another. And mass opposes space. Tension between points generate lines, and extension of a surface or a line generates shafts of space. (For details, see endnotes, Maruyama 1981). Similarly European and American management is based on the principles of boundary, identity, specialization, opposition, tension, and extension. In contrast, in the traditional Japanese gardens and floral art, repetition of the The principles of same form is avoided, and different shapes, colors, and materials are combined to continuity and interact and enhance the individuality of each element (refer to Exhibits 1 and 2). convertibility make In traditional Japanese houses, boundaries can be removed and space becomes a job rotation quite continuous flow, and each space is convertible. The paper partitions between natural and logical for rooms can be removed to provide a continuous space. The outer shell of the Japanese people. house, mostly consisting of sliding wooden boards, can be opened to make the outdoor come into the indoor. One can sit in the house and hear birds sing, smell the flowers in the garden, and look at the mountain. The garden can recess under the roof into the house, and the floor can protrude into the garden. A river may flow under the house. Frank Lloyd Wright, an American architect, incorporated these principles in his work. Furthermore, in the traditional Japanese houses, a room can serve as a dining room if a table is placed, a bedroom if matresses are laid, and a playroom if all furniture is removed. The principles of continuity and convertibility make job rotation quite natural and logical for Japanese people.

If you are a manager in Japan, the five employees are like five rocks in a Japanese garden. Their shapes are different, and they interact in a mutually beneficial way. They know one another's skills and idiosyncrasies, and they interact together to do the whole job. This is the principle of interactive heterogeneity, and this is why it is better to give the whole job to the whole group and let them figure out how to do it. There are many other cultural differences (for details see endnotes, Maruyama 1984, 1985a, 1989). A manager can work more satisfactorily if he/she understands 89

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Exhibit 1. Some composition principles of traditional Japanese gardens.

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the cultural differences and adapt his/her management country.

to the culture of the host

Some knowledge of the language is another prerequisite. Americans are far behind in this aspect. The head of Michelin-Okamoto speaks German, French, Japanese, and English. Mr. Gadelius from Sweden spoke Japanese. Managers must sit in meetings. It is very frustrating and inefficient to sit in a meeting without understanding what is being discussed. Fortunately the number of American businesspeople who understand foreign languages is increasing. Some languages such as Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese are difficult to read and write, but not necessarily difficult to speak. I know several foreigners who speak Japanese perfectly without being able to read or write. An easy way to learn a foreign language is to keep listening to cassettes while you drive or ride a bus. There are many language cassettes available for this purpose. A practical suggestion is that when you buy a cassette, copy it on a stronger tape. The ones you buy in stores not only wear out fast but also clog the magnetic head of your cassette player with their debris.

Individual Differences
There are always individual differences within each culture. In fact, you can find any individual type in any culture if you look hard. Very often various types are hidden or camouflaged under the surface of cultrally conditioned behavior. But 91

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you can discover them although it is sometimes difficult in cultures where people are too modest to express their opinion or their individual nature. Some basic understanding of the relationship between individual types and cultural types may be helpful. The way a person organizes his/her thinking and behavior is called "mindscape" (see endnotes, Maruyama 1979, 1980). There can be as many mindscape types as there are individuals. But some types are more frequently found than others. The following four types and their mixtures account for about two-thirds of people in most cultures:

H-type homogenist hierarchical permanent competitive classifying sequential one truth zero-sum

I-type heterogenist isolationist temporary laisser-faire randomizing haphazard subjective negative-sum

S-type heterogenist interactive stability cooperative contextual simultaneous many truths positive-sum

G-type heterogenist interactive change cogenerative contextual simultaneous many truths positive-sum

Let us not forget that everybody is a mixture of some types, including the types other than these four. In any culture, there are all individual types. Cultural difference arise when one type becomes dominant and influences other types. For example in the U.S., the dominant type is an H-I mixture. In Japan, SHG mixture dominates. The two countries share the H component while differing in other components. But non-dominant types exist in each country, in individuals as well as in corporate cultures. They may be hidden in many ways. If an individual's mindscape type is different from the mainstream dominant type, one of the following can happen (see endnote, Maruyama 1992). The individual: finds a social niche where he/she can practice his/her own type; camouflages his/her own type; or becomes able to function in two types: mainstream and own; represses his/her own type into the unconscious, but may reactivate it under favorable conditions; (5) loses his/her own type completely. (1) (2) (3) (4) From the management point of view, those in the third category are most useful if the individual's own type is the same as yours. The person can become a translator between you and the mainstream type of the host country. The mindscape type of a person's mindscape type is expressed in the decision process, spatial composition, social interaction pattern, aesthetic preferences, world view, and so on (for details, see endnotes, Maruyama 1992). To discover the hidden types, is it useful to hold conversations on many topics, interact in many situations, and observe the behavior carefully. Differences Between Countries In The Same Region It is a mistake to lump all European countries together, all Asian countries in another block, and all African or Middle Eastern countries in their respective groups. In fact, the difference between Indonesia and Korea is greater than that
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between Japan and the U.S. The dominant type in Indonesia is an extreme S, and the dominant type in Korea is a strong H. We saw, on the other hand, that SHG predominates in Japan, and HI is the mainstream in U.S.A. A country may be more similar to another in a different part of the world than to its neighbors. The Danish culture is closer to the Indonesian culture than to the Swedish culture in terms of the mindscape characteristics. Let us take one aspect of the Danish culture as an example.

In fact, the difference between Indonesia and Korea is greater than that between Japan and the U.S.

In the Danish culture, (see endnotes, Maruyama 1961) the main purpose of interpersonal communication is maintenance of familiar atmosphere and relation of affection. A small group of friends often sit together in the same cafe, eating the same pastry week after week, telling the same or similar gossips. Subtle variations are considered interesting. For example everyone knows that Mr. X ties his left shoe first, then his right shoe. One day he reverses the sequential order. This becomes big news. Less subtle information is avoided because it may disturb the familiar atmosphere. It is impolite to explain things, because such an act assumes that someone is ignorant. It is also impolite to ask questions on anything beyond immediate personal concern, because the respondent may not know the answer. It is often considered aggressive or offensive to introduce new ideas. One prefers to repeat the same old jokes. Discussion on politics or economics is taboo except in marginal enclaves. Safe topics of intellectual conversation are art, literature, and music, on which people are expected to disagree without embarrassment. A foreign businessperson eager to discuss what is outside the immediate business needs is likely to be met with a strong silent resistance. When confronted with a discussion, even if it is intended to be friendly, Danes tend to withdraw and become silent. They also tend to think that interpersonal understanding is impossible. "I do not understand myself. Why should I try to understand others?" is the way most Danes think. Kierkegaard, the 19th century philosopher, was quite Danish in the sense that he considered interpersonal communication to be very difficult or impossible except through God. But he was quite un-Danish because he expressed his sufferings. His philosophy is understood more by foreigners than by Danes. In contrast, in Sweden (see endnote, Maruyama 1961), the purpose of daily interpersonal communication is transmission of new information or frank feelings. One prefers to be silent unless he/she has an important message, while in Denmark one must keep talking. While Danes are affect-oriented, Swedes are performance-oriented. As this example demonstrates, your friendly behavior of asking questions or explaining things may have a negative effect in some cultures, and you may not know why it does not work. It took me four years of living in Denmark to realize what I was doing wrong. Let us take another example, this time from Singapore. Directors from countries like Sweden assume that if they keep their door open, their employees will walk in and talk with them, but nobody comes. Chinese Singaporeans, who constitute three-fourth of the population in Singapore, cannot go over the head of their immediate superior. In fact, one avoids running into someone even accidentally on the street who is higher in rank than his/her immediate supervisor, for fear of being misinterpreted by whoever might happen to be around. In Japan probably nobody would walk into the director's office either, but the reason is different. In Japan an employee can talk with the director anywhere if he is spoken to by the director. It is also interesting to compare this with the French practice. In France, one may write letters to Mr. X's superior concerning Mr. X, but must send a copy
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to Mr. X. This is not required in Japan, nor in the U.S. It is also interesting that the sentences in this paragraph, which are in English, are rather complicated and awkward. However, this paragraph can be written much simpler, more accurately, and concisely in Swedish and Russian by using reflexive possessive pronouns which do not exist in English. I had to paraphrase some sentences using awkward expressions such as "Mr. X." A businessperson must remember that the approach which works in Germany does not work in Holland, and what works in Hungary does not work in Romania. Foreign Travel Residents of countries where foreign currency is hard to obtain, such as Hungary, cannot easily travel abroad. Opportunities for foreign travel on the job is a tremendously attractive incentive. Selection and Training Whether you are sending a manager from your country to a foreign country, or a foreign employee to be a manager in a third country, an adequate system of selection and/or training is necessary (see endnotes, Maruyama 1990b). Thomson of France thinks that if you select the right person, no training is needed, and if you select a wrong person, training is useless. In the selection, Thomson gives a high priority to knowledge of the foreign language and interest in the foreign culture. It had directors in Singapore who were interested in the neighboring Indonesian culture. Siemens of Germany also thinks that selection is more important than training. But unlike Thomson, its criteria tend to be health, marital status, and having no school-age children. While there are schools for French dependents in major world cities, Germans enjoy no similar convenience. Americans, who tend to think that training can change anyone, seldom have training programs on foreign cultures and languages, though there are exceptions such as Teradyne of Boston.

Thomson of France thinks that if you select the right person, no training is needed, and if you select a wrong person, training is useless.

Older Japanese firms tend to practice neither culture-based selection nor training: they dispatch their employees with a very short notice, often as short as two weeks. But some of the younger firms practice selection and/or training. Honda matches its employees' individual personality characteristics with the host country culture. Honda can do this because many of its senior managers and executives have lived in foreign countries. Matsushita provides training of six months or more, with many languages to choose from, including Chinese, Russian, and Arabic. Some Korean firms have very thorough training programs. An example is the use of "culture houses." An employee that will be sent to Germany, for example, is put in a "German house" where he is confined until he is able to eat, live, and sleep like a German. Endogenous Market Research Based On Observation Of User Habits Technologically excellent products may fail if they do not match the users' habits. Users' habits cannot be discovered by interviews or questionnaires. They must be observed. In the early 1980s Japanese cars tended to stall on the streets of Beijing. The reason was that drivers in Beijing stopped the engine while waiting for the red signal to change, and in many Japanese cars the air-conditioning kept running after the engine was stopped. The battery went dead and the engine could not start. The problem was in the way the switch operated. But from the point of view of the users, the entire car was defective. The solution was simple: to modify the

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ignition switch to stop the air-conditioning when the engine was stopped. To understand such problems, observation of users' habits is indispensable. Observation methods which had been developed in sociology, anthropology, and animal behavior study were used by some firms. Hakuhodo, one of the leading marketing firms in Japan, has used observation methods at several occasions. One was a study of consumer shopping patterns. The researcher picked every n-th person from a train station and followed the person into various shops. Several patterns were discovered (see endnotes, Maruyama 1985b). For example, young people tended to gravitate toward hidden stores that carried nonstandard items, located a little distance away from the station. They avoided neatly classified shelves and preferred to discover unusual items in a mixed heap of miscellaneous articles. They liked shops that frequently changed their merchandises or interior decoration, giving a new atmosphere each time. These shops purposely create a degree of inaccesibility by being located in the complicated maze of small alleys and by having no identifiable mark outside. Two other types of shops were also found nearby: "pumping shops" and "sponge shops." The pumping shops, or the established large stores in the center of the commercial zone, attract a crowd and spill out the overflow of people into the streets. The sponge shops, located in the alleys near the main streets, absorb the overflow. Some of the sponge shops turn into the hidden specialty shops. Hakuhodo also used participant observation methods in some cases. A videotaping method was used by an American firm to study the users' habits in the kitchen. In the U.S., home kitchens usually have two sinks. Theoretically, one is for soap water and the other is for clean water. Video cameras were installed in several home kitchens. In the beginning the users were cautious and used the sinks as the theory projected. But after two or three weeks, they were no longer conscious of the camera-they came out in nude for example and used only one sink.

The secret of judo is to

make your opponent fall by his own momentum. If he pushes you, you pull him. If he pulls you, you push him. This method is extremely useful in international business.

In both cases, the research was conducted by members of the culture under study, not by foreigners. This is called "endogenous research." In this type of study, the researchers use the concepts in the culture to formulate the focus, devise the methods, and interpret the data. From now on, firms which use endogenous researchers to study users' habits will be far ahead of firms which rely on questionnaires and interviews. (Problems in conducting endogenous research in foreign cultures are discussed in the endnote Maruyama 1978.)

Strategic Judo
The secret of judo is to make your opponent fall by his own momentum. If he pushes you, you pull him. If he pulls you, you push him. This method is extremely useful in international business. Strategic judo consists in turning obstacles into advantages. Remember that obstacles annoy your competitors as well. Whoever can devise a way to overcome the obstacles before your competitors do can win the game. Going a step further, you can regard an obstacle as a tool with which you can outdistance your competitors. Here are some examples. A Japanese regulation required desk telephone sets to have a fuse in the circuit. This regulation had a cultural background. In Japan, in case of an accident due to a product defect, consumers tend to blame the government for the lack of strict safety regulations instead of suing the manufacturer. Consequently, regulations multiplied unnecessarily. Some American firms wanted to sell their telephone sets in Japan and tried to argue that such a fuse was unnecessary. Even if they had been successful in their argument,
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it may have taken years to change the regulation. A quick strategy would be to put a fuse in the product while competitors waste their time arguing. Six years ago French ski makers who wanted to sell their skis in Japan were told that Japanese snow was different from French snow. Here again, it would have taken too much time to argue that the snow in the two countries was the same. A quick business strategy would be to go along with the Japanese view and tell the Japanese that you will design your skis for the Japanese snow. Experienced salespersons know how to avoid arguing with their customers, but this common sense is often forgotten in international business.

Experienced salespersons know how to avoid arguing with their customers. but this common sense is often forgotten in international business.

When the environmentalist movement mounted in the U.S., most firms opposed stricter regulations. But one firm made use of the environmentalist movement. A fish-farming firm devised a system to remove toxic elements from water beyond the current requirement, and pressured the government by means of the environmentalist movement to establish a new requirement which the firm could meet but its competitors could not. This was an example of proactive marketing (see endnote, Maruyama 1990a).

Conclusion
Changing international business situations generate new management dimensions. Firms must keep up with them and even go a few steps ahead of them to be competitive.

Endnotes

For more details, see the following: H. Hendin, Suicide in Scandinavia (New York: Grun and Stratton, 1964). M. Maruyama. "Multilateral Mutual Causal Relationships among the Modes of Communication, Sociometric Pattern and Intellectual Orientation in Danish Culture." Phylon, 22, 1961, 41-58. M. Maruyama. "Endogenous Research and Polyocular Anthropology," in Perspectives on Ethnicity, edited by R. Holloman and S. Arutiunov, (Den Haag: Mouton, 1978). M. Maruyama, "Mindscapes," World Future Society Bulletin, 13, 1979, 13-23. M. Maruyama, "Mindscapes and Science Theories," Current Anthropology, 21, 1980, 589-599. M. Maruyama, "Denkmuster: Metaprinzipien der Umweltgestaltung," Garten und Landschaft, October 1981, 806-815. M. Maruyama, "Alternative Concepts of Management: Insights from Asia and Africa,"

Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 1, 1984, 100-111. M. Maruyama, "Mindscapes: How to Understand Specific Situations in International Management," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 2, 1985a, 125-149. M. Maruyama, "The New Logic of Japan's Young Generations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 28, 1985b, 351-364. M. Maruyama, "Epistemological Sources of New Business Problems in the International Environment," Human Systems Management, 8, 1989, 71-80. M. Maruyama, International Proactive Marketing, Marketing Research, June 1990a, 36-48. M. Maruyama, "Organizational Structure, Training and Selection of Outer Space Crew members," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 37, 1990b, 203-212. M. Maruyama, Context and Complexity (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1992).

About the Author

Magoroh Maruyama was born in Japan in 1929. He graduated from the University of California Berkeley in mathematics with honors, and did his graduate studies at the Universities of Heidelberg, Munich, Copenhagen and Lund, obtaining his PhD. He taught at the University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, University of Illinois, University of Uppsala in Sweden, University of Montpellier in France, National University of Singapore, and is professor of international business at Aoyama Gakuin University of Tokyo.

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