1.What were the triggers of cultural change in Japan during the 1990s? How is cultural change starting to affect traditional values in Japan?

A. The burst of the “Bubble Economy”, Japanese generation lacked the same commitment to traditional values. Privatisation of a large number of public corporations since 1980, Expansion of operations in Western and Asian regions.
B. Changes to HR policies, New recruitment techniques, and individual benefits. Shift towards individualism.

2.How might Japan’s changing culture influence the way Japanese businesses operate in the future? What are the potential implications of such changes for the Japanese economy?
Employees still get benefits but not based on seniority. This leads to a more service based efficient economy. More focus on individualism, loss of employee loyalty, changes to HR startagies, Westernized younger generation, high women contribution, free worker concept
Negative implications, outsourcing, low employee engagement, low synergy in team work
3.How did traditional Japanese culture benefit Panasonic during the 1950s–1980s? Did traditional values become more of a liability during the 1990s and early 2000s? How so?

It benefited from Confucian values. Built teamwork inside the work place, created strong ties of loyalty, Emphazides harmony and coroporation among employees, Created a more collaborative work place. Employees seeked job security, and retirement, guided by many rules and procedures., employees focused on the future of the company
It became a liability because the new generation did not consider all the old values as valuable.
4. What is Panasonic trying to achieve with human resource changes it has announced? What are the impediments to successfully implementing these changes? What are the implications for Panasonic if (a) the changes are made quickly or (b) it takes years or even decades to fully implement the changes?
They want to encourage individuality in employees, and for them to start believing in employee democratization. They were also seeking younger employees. They are changing the pay scheme, and paying based on performance. This should make the company more financially successful if performance and productivity increase. Which will help cut costs and overcome financial difficulties. They are offering three different employment choices. The impediments to successfully implementing the changes were the old employees. Advantages: are new generation of workforce, Increased productivity, efficient operations in global market. The implications are :the employees may not understand it and will reject it, Social costs (loss of faith, poor image, poor relationship), Loss of upper management teams, ficial implications
There will be financial implications to the surrounding economy due to job loss.

If it takes years or decades the business may not be prosperous before its implemented adequately.

5.What does the Panasonic case teach you about the relationship between societal culture and business success?

In order for a business to succeed they have to adapt to the changes in society, and therefore the cultural changes that occur. Practices from today may not adequate in the future.

Homework/Case Analysis
Case Analysis: Chapter 3 Closing Case on pages 125–127.
Your responses should be well-rounded and analytical and should not just provide a conclusion or an opinion without explaining the reason for the choice. For full credit, you need to use the material from the week's lectures, text, and/or discussions when responding to the questions. It is important that you incorporate the question into your response (i.e., summarize the case in the Summary) and explain the principle(s) or concept(s) from the text that underlies your judgment. For each case, you should provide at least two references in APA format (in-text citations and references as described in detail in the Syllabus). Each answer should be double-spaced in 12 point.

Use the following headings and lengths in your paper:
1. Summary
a. In this section, you should summarize the case in one paragraph.
2. Questions
a. Number each question. Each specific question under the numbered Case Discussion Questions should be a paragraph in length because many Case Discussion Questions contain more than one question.
Be sure to restate each question before answering it.
b. Apply the concepts from the appropriate chapters in your answers.
3. References
a. Include citations throughout the paper and a reference page with your sources. Use APA style citations and references.

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