Cultural considerations for our business trip to Pakistan.

As per your request, here are some important considerations before visiting and conducting business in Japan. I researched three of the most significant factors on which the US and Japan differ in terms of business, professionalism and the market in which Yuppie will be introduced. We, as a team of foreign business people, will have to keep these key factors and their implications in mind while doing business and interacting with the Japanese corporate world and the target market.
 
Social Differences
  • The main aspect in which Japan mainly differs from the USA is the social aspect. Since the product marketed is gaming systems, special considerations will have to be made with respect to the Japanese pop culture. The Japanese market is flooded with technology based products, especially from smaller independent innovation firms that do not market globally as compared to the industry giants such as Sony. These small innovative firms are usually more capable in terms of creating a unique offering and will pose serious competition to Yuppie. In the US, there are relatively few innovative independent firms that develop similar technology.
  • The Japanese target market will also differ from USA in certain aspects. Although demographically, the age group may be the same, but other psychographic factors such as lifestyle, interests, income levels, exposure to technology, preferences and social backgrounds. Japanese pop culture revolves around pure entertainment and has a touch of traditionalism and originality such as the Manga, anime influences and tech savvy portrayals. #
  • The internet and IT culture in Japan has developed more in to an underground culture relative to the US. Technology like the Yuppie that uses games purchased off the internet will face piracy and copyright issues with illegal downloads, game development and even alteration of the game console in order to ‘tweak’ systems so that they can be customized and run elf-developed games or even illegally downloaded games without licenses. Such
  • Games and offers will have to be developed specifically for the Japanese society and pop culture. A line of anime based games or licensing from game developing companies that have developed popular Japanese games for other gamin platforms can be collaborated with in order to produce those same games on the Yuppie platform. For example in a particular car racing game, drag racing will be more popular in the US while drifting will be more popular in Japan. This could boost Yuppie sales due to the combination of gesture control gaming, lightweight transportability and the popular games being available. Game developers such as Sega and other similar companies can be partnered with for licensing and game development. #
  • Finally, some other social considerations need to be made with respect to our business trip to the country. These must be kept in mind while interacting with Japanese representatives in order to familiarize the team of their culture and norms. The Japanese people are generally humble and have strong values regarding hospitality. Greeting is generally down with a slight bow and a handshake; it will be polite to reciprocate the act on our behalf. A generally friendly attitude must be observed with professionalism in mind.
 
Legal and ethical difference
  • Legal considerations with respect to the gaming market are abundant and they differ from that in the US. First, piracy laws are more stringent in the US as compared to Japan, which means that piracy is more common in Japan. Piracy as mentioned earlier can be in the form of illegal game downloads, development and alteration of the Yuppie console itself for needs of customization. 
  •  Rating of media which will include vide games, differs from that in the US. Legal authorities like the censorship boards, FCC etc restrict video game violence and sex content and have strict age restrictions and ratings for video games. Such laws are more relaxed in Japan and customers and gamers have more access to such content. The ratings
  • General business ethics are similar to that of USA but special care should be taken about not including any such games, references or hints that mock or disrespect the Japanese culture. Since the product will be new in the market and will not be local, it would be considered unethical to add insulting features to the tradition and heritage of Japan or any such mockery. Things are different in the US where the general public is more open to freedom of speech and looks for humor in insults or offensive material in games.
 
Age differences
  • The target market for Yuppie is demographically placed between ages 13 to 22 years of age. According to statistics of June 2008, the population that falls in that age bracket is lower than that of USA. With stiff competition and a smaller market, intense promotional activities based on functional positioning of the product must be performed in order to popularize Yuppie in Japan.
 
This research based memo provided a brief overview on some of the factors we need to consider for our initial visit and promotion of  Yuppie and will suffice. I request you to circulate this memo among your team and anyone else who would be accompanying us on this business tour so that they are aware of the above cultural and business considerations.
 
For further interactions and business related meetings, I will prepare a comprehensive research based handbook or document that looks into the Japanese social and business world in detail, touching all factors that need to be considered in doing business with representatives from the country.
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