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Troll_Bait
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: [T]eaching experience doesn't matter much. -Lee Young-chan (pictured)
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 Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:03 pm Post subject: Article about Japan really reminded me of Korea |
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http://www.newsweek.com/id/73236/page/1
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Ever heard of DoCoMo? probably not, unless you happen to live in Japan. NTT DoCoMo is one of the world's biggest wireless phone companies. It operates in a ferociously competitive market, boasts about 50 million customers and has been known to produce cutting-edge technology. By all rights it ought to be a star performer in the increasingly global business of wireless communications. Yet DoCoMo's brand is still virtually unknown outside its home country.
This is one story that could have had a very different ending. At the turn of the century DoCoMo executives announced that they were setting out to conquer the world. Their company's star mobile Internet application, known as i-mode, was leading the pack in its home market, and DoCoMo planned to leverage that success into a bid to dictate wireless Internet standards around the world. The company went on a buying spree, trying to gain footholds by purchasing stakes in overseas companies�stakes that soon made for painful losses, and not much else, when the New Economy bubble popped soon thereafter.
The would-be worldbeater proved tone-deaf. DoCoMo managers were so enraptured with their state-of-the-art Internet service that they failed to notice that the long and intricate menus favored by Japanese consumers didn't score with foreign customers who were looking for more direct and intuitive interfaces. One reason for the failure to communicate: not a single person in the senior management of the company was non-Japanese. "With the right approach they could have become a Google," says Gerhard Fasol of the Tokyo consultancy Eurotechnology Japan. "They had the chance�but they blew it."
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There's much more (five pages in total) and you should read it all. Words and phrases like "fat, vertically-integrated conglomerates that are too slow to adapt" really reminded me of Korea.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/73236/page/2
http://www.newsweek.com/id/73236/page/3
http://www.newsweek.com/id/73236/page/4
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| Of course, Japan's obsessive, incremental approach to innovation is a perfectly good way to run some companies. Japanese steelmakers have a proprietary technology that makes their high-tech steel untouchable by Korean and Chinese competitors. They keep trying to close the gap, but the Japanese, given their extraordinary attention to detail, could very well manage to keep a few steps ahead�enough to maintain crucial comparative advantage. |
http://www.newsweek.com/id/73236/page/5 |
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Underwaterbob
Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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It certainly reminds me of Korean Internet sites.
How they can find anything on twenty page-tall sites of miniscule animated GIFs with four popups, twelve flash animations and ad overlays is beyond me. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:00 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.newsweek.com/id/73236/output/print
The single page version.
The latest Metropolitician podcast has a lot of good talk about Korea and the problems it's having globalizing. Lots of great points. |
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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 4:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Korea needs to hire expats into their mid to upper management levels. Unfortunately, they think foreign business majors are only good for proofreading and translating documents. |
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ernie
Joined: 05 Aug 2006
Location: asdfghjk
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| Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:07 pm Post subject: |
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a rather interesting article... it's funny how we often perceive japan (and korea) as being on the cutting-edge technologically, when in fact their corporate mentality is hyper-conservative: age matters more than expertise, experience, or evidence...
i like the idea of incremental improvement, but the problem is that there is no such thing as the 'perfect' car, computer, or mp3 player! i think that a company that could synthesize the asian work ethic with western-style innovation would be highly successful... |
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tsgarp
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
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| Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:34 pm Post subject: |
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| ernie wrote: |
a rather interesting article... it's funny how we often perceive japan (and korea) as being on the cutting-edge technologically, when in fact their corporate mentality is hyper-conservative: age matters more than expertise, experience, or evidence...
i like the idea of incremental improvement, but the problem is that there is no such thing as the 'perfect' car, computer, or mp3 player! i think that a company that could synthesize the asian work ethic with western-style innovation would be highly successful... |
YTou're kidding right? Other than a handful of giant corps like Microsoft, most of the innovation these days comes from Asia, Korea included. Or do you think GM has something to teach Korea nad Japan? |
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Gwangjuboy
Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Location: England
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| Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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| tsgarp wrote: |
| Other than a handful of giant corps like Microsoft, most of the innovation these days comes from Asia, Korea included. Or do you think GM has something to teach Korea nad Japan? |
Depends what kind of innovation your refering to. Hi-tech? Sure a lot of innovation comes from East Asia but there are many more companies than just Microsoft who are innovators in the west. Nokia for example. |
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little mixed girl
Joined: 11 Jun 2003
Location: shin hyesung's bed~
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| Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 4:24 am Post subject: |
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the only reason docomo is "big" is because they are owned by NTT, which is japan's at&t.
but, since number portability has (finally) come to japan, there are customers jumping ship.
they are the most expensive cell phone company, their phones are not that great, and i think the only reason that people are sticking it out with them is because they have better coverage (in some areas) than au, softbank and wilcom.
a few months back i was watching a documentary on tv about how new cell phones are introduced into the japanese market.
LG headed to japan with the chocolate, and got time with docomo. they had to change a number of things before they got the ok from docomo...meh... |
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