Panasonic and Japan’s Changing Culture

Case 2 Panasonic and Japans Changing market-gardening 1. Some of the drivers of the cultural changes in the 1990s with Panasonic were that Japans generation of workers, starting time with the generation born in the 1960s, did non wholly believe in creation a salaryman and working for a club from when they start until when they retire. After many yrs, in the 1990s Japan entered an economic castigate that lasted the majority of the 1990s.Only a few companies at first started to lay off employees and go back on their promises of employment until retreat because the older their workers, although they worked hard, also were less in effect(p) than younger workers were. As the younger generations saw this happening they concluded that loyalty to both(prenominal) the gild and workers would non be reciprocated any longstanding and became less harder working than previous. This undermined the traditional socialization in Japan of the central bargains of hold and solitude packa ges for an employees hard work and loyalty. 2.Japans handicraftes in the future have to lease with much than one plan when they withdraw workers to effectively. In 1999 Panasonic gave recruits three different choices when they were sign-language(a) on in employment. They could continue with being given housing, go reconcile to caller-out social nonethelessts, and buy cheaper serve from banks, plot of land also receiving a two year salary bonus when they retired. They could favour to premise the retirement bonus, while keeping the come with housing and be given a higher salary, or they could forgo the retirement bonus and any support services scarce would be given an counterbalance higher salary.In addition to the changes in hiring, companies involve employees to be more risk victorious and needed to encourage individuality which is some function that was not very prevalent in Japan. Without employees taking risks, companies would suffer and that is what happened to Panasonic as they were forced to closing curtain thirty factories, and cut 13,000 jobs while marketing huge amounts of assets. 3. Japanese culture in the 1950s-1980s benefited Panasonic greatly because of how after the orbit War II defeat, Japan was humiliated and it seemed fair that they would be bump offn trouble of if they worked hard for their company.For Panasonic this was a great thing because employees worked extremely hard for the greater well(p) of Panasonic and Panasonic responded by giving the employees blessings of company housing, and free social events. 4. With Panasonic cutting 15,000 employees and closing some other additional 27 plants, Panasonic is move to carry through a lower overhead be in operation and also is trying to find out who their best workers are so that they are not unbroken down when they should be promoted.By quickly responding to the recession, it showed a change in Panasonics company policies and shows that they might be moving eve n further a elan from company subsidized housing and to make employees become harder workers not because they know that they chamberpotnot be fired, but that they can be fired, at any time. If Panasonic implements these changes quickly, they get out receive a lot of occur from all those displaced employees and if they did it like this it would truly constitute how Panasonic has changed into a company that is becoming westernized and is hardly concerned with how the company does and not their employees.If the changes take years to implement, although it would greatly affect the lucrativeness of the company, it would give employees chances to reconcile to changes of no longer being employed and give them chances to be hired in another company. By making changes slowly, Panasonic would be able to aim that it still wished to use the old way of never cutting jobs but it could not do it in this economy and had to do so to survive. 5.The Panasonic case teaches me that there is a fi ne line between social culture and business success and sometimes you have to be able to choose between the two to realize which is more important to you. To some companies, such as Panasonic, trying hard to keep with the social culture becomes too much of a strain for a company to stand up so they are forced to adapt and realize that business success is more important that having all your workers love you. It whitethorn not be the type of business practice that gives you the best reputation but it will give you the greatest lettuce margins.