The best strategy is the one that works for YOU. Why Japanese strategy didn’t work in the US

In the late 1980’s and 1990’s, the US economy was slumping whereas the Japanese economy was booming. The Japanese were dominating automobiles, consumer electronics, computer hardware and many other consumer categories.

Most experts believed that the success of the Japanese lay in their ability to manufacture products which were cheaper and better than US goods, an unbeatable combination. US consumers absolutely loved these goods and were buying them like crazy. The Japanese were using best practises based on high quality standards and continuous improvement to deliver these zero defect products at lower costs.

The American experts were certain there was only one way for the US companies to compete with the Japanese.

Copy their business model based on quality and zero defects. They spent billions of dollars trying to do this.

So how did this go?

After trying for many years, the Americans gave up. They stopped chasing these Japanese methods based on quality and continuous improvement.

So what went wrong?

It was a cultural fitment problem.

Let me explain.

First a couple of things about US culture.

The spirit of trying, failing, learning and discovering how to do things on their own is deeply embedded in American culture. It’s how that country was built by people who came there from other parts of the world and built everything from scratch by trying and failing and trying again.

The other deeply rooted element of American culture is the mindset of abundance and vastness. Historically, they have always had enough land and other resources for everybody. You could build a big house on as much land as you wanted. You had large farmlands. If it stopped being fertile, you could just go find some other piece of land. Everything is big and large. If something doesn’t work, it was easier getting a new one rather than trying to repair the old product. Because there was no shortage. They have an abundance of everything . They aren’t used to working and living under constraints.

A combination of these two cultural influences ensures that American culture doesnt seek perfection. They don’t seek products which have to be so right that they last forever. A little failure is totally acceptable.

Their cultural interpretation of Quality is a product that WORKS reasonably well and for long enough. It doesn’t have to be PERFECT and last FOREVER. They have an abundance mindset which allows them to be comfortable with wastefulness. if something breaks, they don’t mind going and getting a new one. In fact they quite enjoy that. Because otherwise it will be boring.

Ethnographic studies with US customers have shown that Perfection is something that is often undesirable.

The interpretation of quality in Japanese culture and their historical conditioning is completely different.

Japan is a country of harsh constraints. Everything is limited. The land, space, all kinds of natural resources. They dont have the abundance or vastness of America. They can’t afford to keep failing.They dont have the luxury of throwing away something if it didn’t work properly. Fixing it and making it work is an existential need. Making things which don’t break or stop working is an absolute necessary. Making the most of everything is critical.

Quality and Efficiency are necessities. PERFECTION is highly desirable. They cant afford to have any wastefulness.

It should now be clear why the quest for perfection and superior quality standards failed in America. It was unnatural for the Americans. It was against their deeply ingrained cultural mindsets.

Quality and continuous improvement was a great strategy. For the Japanese. Because it was in sync with their cultural codes.

But it was not the right strategy for the Americans. Because it was not in sync with their cultural codes.

What we saw between US and Japan is true for any two groups. Including two companies. A company can’t just copy another company’s strategy if their culture and mindset is not aligned with it.

This is an example of applying the anthropological lens to understand consumers and businesses. This is why we should study anthropology if we work in consumer business

Borrowed from the book “Culture Code” by Clotaire Ropaille.