Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Marketing Japan: The Japan of Free Enterprise

Yesterday, I received some brilliant commentary about Japan by economic expert Marc Abela about the Time Lapse Journey Through Japan post that I thought I'd share with you.

It is just one more reason why Japan experienced such high economic growth until recently (when the Bank of Japan and Japanese government decided to interfere):

"Japan was up until very recently one rare and beautiful battalion of free enterprise, liberal thinking, private property and private responsibility, not just your name, but your whole family name directly on your brand, Honda-san, Matsushita-san, Suzuki-san, Toyota-san, with free customers roaming around and simply picking the favorite amongst a sea of different products to be found on the market, it was competition at its best... and if people didn't like you, no-one there to use violence, you just go through periods where the group decides to ostracize you at best/worst... Rothbard would have loved this country." - Marc Abela 


You can contact Marc Abela through Facebook.


Here's an addendum:


Allow me to push the argument a little further - men who row and fish on the outside of the boat (private sector) find it more and more difficult to feed a whole family, while men sitting in the middle of the boat (public sector) vegetablize themselves (sou-shoku-kei?) and grow in proportion, in the process slowing every day a little bit more the speed of the whole boat and making it more and more difficult for the private sector to row to keep the boat afloat and fish to feed all in the middle. Due to the lack of competition in the public sector and the over amount of competition in the private sector, most men loose their edge and/or their talent, and as a direct result, women tend to less trust men on a general social basis and find themselves choosing to work directly to provide for their own income. This translates into fewer kids per family, less couples, women wanting out of the system, more and more men not buildi ng up the strength to be able to support and feed a wife along with 3? 5? or even more kids, etc etc... A lot of people in Japan think that Chinese service is of a lesser quality, just because... well, just because, people there, are, well, see, they are "Chinese". Nothing to do with the geography or nationality if you ask anyone rational. People in China just spent decades bathing in a socially corrupt environment with tons of central planning and rotted ideas "a la" Mao - so the "social structure" was "the only" reason why Chinese are on average less up-to-date with "quality service" than some of their Japanese counterparts who have been used to "private competition". But the Chinese have been catching up (big time) in speed (at least since the end of the cultural revolution around 1976). Same with the Soviet Union. Many think the Soviet Union fell just because - well, see, it's easy, Soviet failed cause they were all... Russians. At least that's how most school bo! oks will almost attempt to portray things. Funny how so many today still think all they need to do is simply replace Lenine with someone smart and eloquent like Ozawa or with Obama to make it all work. Lenine spoke 7 languages. Not sure how many Obama & Ozawa speak but I bet the number is a tiny bit closer to... 1?

1 comment:

  1. Mike, I live in an older neighborhood in a somewhat isolated Japanese town. Almost every house has converted the front of the building into some sort of business offering products and services to their neighbors. Dry cleaning, bread, pastries, clocks, household goods, liquor/beer, vegetables, barber shops, beds, furniture, you name it. So it's not just the Toyota and Honda families we are talking about. As being a sole proprietor is so prevalent in Japan, it's no wonder that there was such a free market friendly environment. Sadly, the newer neighborhood housing tracts are designed to preclude business store fronts. Given that most people have access to a car now, shopping malls with huge parking lots have taken away much of the business from local stores. However, the convenience, friendliness, and high quality of specialization offered by neighborhood store owners keeps many of them in business anyway.

    ReplyDelete

Comments must be succinct & relevant to the story. Comments are checked frequently and abusive, rude or profane comments will be deleted. I’m just one of many bloggers who answer questions online and sometimes for the press. I usually handle questions about Japan, marketing or the economy, so in those areas I’m more likely to make sense and less likely to say something really stupid. If I post something here that you find helpful or interesting, that’s wonderful. This is my personal blog. If you don't like what you have read here then, just like when you go into a restaurant or bar that allows smoking, if you don't like it, there's something at the front that has hinges on it and it is called a "door."