Japanese CEOs cross-cultural management of customer value orientation in India

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop understanding of cross-cultural issues relating to the experience and implications of an elite grouping of Japanese CEOs customer value orientations (CVOs) within Japanese firms operating in India. The paper underlines that there is a propensity for East-West comparisons and in contrast the argument contributes to the under-examined area of research on East Asian/South Asian comparative studies.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were employed to generate narratives that provided rich and novel insights into the lived experience of Japanese CEOs working in Indian contexts and in relation to CVO. An inductive framework was employed in order to develop a more in-depth understanding of Japanese CEO CVO in Indo-Japanese empirical settings.FindingsThe data analysis identified a number of shared themes that influence CVO practice in the Indo-Japanese context. The findings develop an awareness of cross-cultural management's (CCM) in relation to the under-explored area of the Indo-Japanese dyad.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper develops CCM perspectives towards a more in-depth conceptualization of Japanese CEO perceptions on CVO practice in India. This is also of potential relevance to wider foreign investors not only Japanese businesses. The sample respondents – Japanese CEOS working in India – constitute a small and elite group. The lead author, having experience as a CEO of a Japanese firm was able to use convenience sampling to access this difficult to access group. In addition, also stemming from the convenience aspect, all the respondents were in the manufacturing sector. The study was deliberately targeted and narrowly focussed for this reason and does not claim automatic wide generalizability to other employee strata or industry; however, other sectors and employees may recognize resonance. This identified gap provides space for future studies in varying regional, national and sector contexts.Practical implicationsThe paper identifies implications for CCM training and Indo-Japanese business organization design.Social implicationsUse and acceptance of the enhanced research paradigm could support diversity in research and knowledge production with implications for research, teaching and future policymakers.Originality/valueThe cross-cultural study is original in that it contributes to CCM literature by providing a rare Indo-Japanese (sic East Asian: South Asian) comparative study. It provides an uncommon granular appreciation of the interaction of these cultures in relation to CVO. In addition, it secures rare data from an elite Japanese CEOs of manufacturing sector businesses.

Marketing, Value Creation and Values Dynamics: Gazing Out to Asia and Europe from Kitakyushu

“…The perspectives shared here, based on broader geographical experiences, are consistent with prior findings, albeit limited to the Japan–India context (cf. Ashta et al, 2021). Thus, there is clearly room for further rigorous research on the dynamics of values in value creation in various contexts, such as on how different values (in Europe, USA, Asia, Africa, etc.)…”

“…Drawing from cross-cultural management scholarship that found that values (conceptions of the desirable) vary across nations and continents (e.g., Ashta et al, 2018; Ronen & Shenkar, 2013), this article premises that what constitutes value creation and the underlying driving values of the service provider will differ across the world. By way of concrete example, the Ashta et al (2021) empirical research on Japanese CVO in India, found that value creation on the provider side was influenced by values, such as harmony and long-term orientation , etc. of Japanese CEOs.…”

“…Recent research indicates that congruence of values—‘conceptions of the desirable’, such as harmony, integrity, etc.—facilitates collaboration and therefore value creation (Ashta et al, 2021). In that sense, one might ponder how Europeans and Asians might cooperate.…”

“…Second, this article considers customer value orientation (CVO) as: The propensity to serving the customer by driving satisfaction and value through either explicit or implicit intention (Ashta et al, 2021(Ashta et al, , p. 2357.…”

Japanese business communication practices in Thailand: tales from an electronic components manufacturer

“…While there is much interest in many contemporary research agendas in examining the transferability of eastern management concepts to the west (and of course more so vice-versa)particularly Japanese management (Yang, 1984;Yamada, 1981) -there is a lesser recognition of how horenso is utilized, even within the variable differences of countries within the east and Asian regions. Ashta et al (2021) acknowledged this shortfall in the present journal (but for the context of Japanese firms operating in India), also arguing that enabling this understanding is valuable to firms of the eastern region that desire to increase collaborative business activities and expand in multinational corporate growth. The need to enable good communication for such large and global corporations in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic is ever more pressing, given the likely continuation of restrictions on physical contact/meetings, adding an additional barrier to effective communication (Kitamura, 2021).…”