Preliminary Investigation Reliability And Validity: Introduction, Rationale For Selecting Japan As Host Country, And Cultural Analysis Of Japan

Rationale for Selecting Japan as Host Country

Discuss about the Preliminary Investigation Reliability and Validity.

International business is commonly known as commercial transactions, which take place across the world by crossing the borders of the nations. In other words, it can also be said that the selling of the products in the host country is known as international business (Folsom et al., 2012). In this report, the organization Next Plc of the United Kingdom (home country) has been selected as it plans to expand its business to Japan (host country).   

The organization Next Plc is styled as Next and it is a British multinational company of retail sector, which deals with footwear, home products and clothing. The company is headquartered at Enderby that is located in United Kingdom. Joseph Hepworth founded it in the year 1864 that is 152 years ago and at present, it has about 700 stores, among which 502 stores are located in Ireland and U.K. only (Nextplc.co.uk. 2016). The company has expanded its business to continental Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

The company Next Plc. has planned to expand its business in the country named Japan as the Japanese culture is considered as the multi-layered as well as a complex system, which has been developed with the passage of time. In addition to this, it has been found that the Japanese culture is constantly developing within itself and thus it is creating some new layers for 1000s of years (Wild, Wild & Han, 2014). It can be said that to the people of United Kingdom that is Westerners, the image of Japanese culture is composed of the images of spring, an ancient Samurai warrior holding a heavy sword. Moreover, the image can be composed of a picture of a young girl who is pouring tea and is serving sushi to people. However, these elements play an important role in the whole concept of Japan. It has been found that traditionally, the Japanese place used to play a great importance on the concept regarding ‘wa’ that is group harmony. Therefore, the value of the common greater good is comparatively more important than the valuation of the own needs and demands of an individual (Forsgren & Johanson, 2014). This particular principle is implemented within the schools and in the social groups and later in future including the workplace. In addition to these, it has been found that the inferior partner in any kind of business or personal relationship, usually remain calm regarding their own thoughts, wants and opinions to the greater in order not to cause the superior to be humiliated or to lose his/ her face. Therefore, this cultural aspect of the country Japan will help the particular firm Next plc to run and expand its business successfully in the market of Japan. The particular organization should study the culture of Japan in detail and as per their willingness and choice the retail business of Next Plc should be run (Verbeke, 2013). Moreover, it has been found that the ‘tatemae’ or the appearance of the business or an individual plays a vital role than the actual reality or ‘honne’. Therefore, the firm Next Plc that is a worldwide renowned company in the retail sector can easily make its business in Japan.

Cultural Analysis of Japan

The main reason behind this is that popularity and appearance of the firm that will help to create target market as well as potential customers. In addition to these, the company Next Plc should follow some of the natures preferred by the Japanese people that are politeness, punctuality, kindness, hard-working, respectful, intelligent, grouping, formal and cleanliness (Cavusgil et al., 2014). Additionally, in general the company Next Plc is punctual and sells various products in-group and is a respectful firm, thus, the products of this particular organization will be preferred and bought by most of the Japanese people. Thus, the sales revenue as well as the profit of the firm will also increase in the market of Japan. From detailed study, it can be said that the retail industry is a very profitable business in the country Japan. The reason behind this is that there is a huge population who helps in catering and thus the numbers of opportunities and facilities are unlimited as the along with the population, the market is also large. Therefore, for understanding the issues of the international business in detail, in this report, the U.K. based company Next Plc has been chosen and Japan has been selected as the host country for expanding its business as Japan will help to run the business profitably (Buckley, 2016). Additionally, the retail company Next Plc can also obtain target market or target customers easily.  Thus, the particular country Japan has been selected for the business expansion.

Culture is defined as the cumulative deposit of experience, knowledge, values, beliefs, meanings, attitudes, religion, roles, hierarchies, spatial relations and concepts of universe. Moreover, the culture can also be considered as the knowledge system, which is shared by a comparatively larger group of people. Moreover, the culture is regarded as the communication and the communication is counted as the culture. Therefore, it can be said that as a discipline, the analysis of a culture is based on the qualitative research methodology of the social sciences, arts, humanities and especially in anthropology and ethnography in order to gather data and information regarding the cultural phenomena (Hill, Cronk & Wickramasekera, 2013). The other intention is to interpret the practices and representations of the culture in an effort to earn new knowledge and understanding regarding the data analysis and cultural procedures. It can be said that there are mainly four kinds of themes to the sociological cultural analysis. These include – adaptation and change, the process by which a culture can be survived, holism and expressions. From detailed analysis, it can be said that the country Japan has a multifaceted and a fascinating culture. It can be said that it is steeped regarding its old traditions of thousands of years back on one hand and on the other the culture of Japan is a particular society of rapid flux along with a continuous shifting fashions and fads and technological developments in a continual state. This helps in pushing the possible boundaries back and this makes the country fascinating to visit (Terpstra, Foley & Sarathy, 2012). Thus, it can also be said that Japan is totally different from any other countries in the world. Moreover, at a first glance, the people of Japan appears to be the most ethnically and socially homogenous groups across the world. It has been found that economic development took place rapidly in Japan after the post-war in 1990s along with the conformism and solidarity (Zikmund et al., 2013). In Japan there are various religions, moreover, it can be said that in the country there is a wonderful mish-mash of different ideas starting from Shintoism to Buddhism. The religion in Japan is a moral code that indicates the proper way of living that is approximately indistinguishable from the cultural and social values of the country.

Like other cultures, the religion of Japan is also considered as a private as well as family affair. It has also been noted that religion is seldom conversed in the everyday life and most of the Japanese do not worship on a daily basis. Additionally, the manners and the customs of the people of Japan differ or differentiate from the other cultures. In the Japanese culture, both the customs and the manners play an important role in the various phases of Japanese life (Shaw & Barry, 2015). Generally, the people of Japan grow up by selecting the subtleties of the unique culture. Thus, with the passage of time, they respect the invisible and the differentiated societal regulations. Additionally, bowing is considered as the most obvious conventions of the particular society. Each individual bows when one says hello, sorry, thank you or goodbye. This is done in terms of remorse, respect, greeting and gratitude. Furthermore, the culture of Japan also includes the taking off shoes that confuses most of the visitors of the country. In general, the Japanese take off their shoes, whenever they enter any traditional guesthouse, temple, home and the occasional restaurant. In Japan, the national sports are de facto that is the sumo race. From detailed analysis, it has been come to know that the sports like sumo have entered the Japanese culture around 1500 years ago (Weiss, 2014). The other noisy and furious sport of Japan is Kendo that is the oldest blends power and martial art, bravery and skill. Even the most famous martial arts are also found in Japan that is karate, though some of the Japanese believe that the sport karate was originated primarily in the Subcontinent of India. The other famous sports of Japanese culture include – Aikido, Judo and Modern Sports (Bakir et al., 2015). Lastly, the culture of Japan can be differentiated from the others through its delicious foods. In perspective of the food, Japanese are counted as the most passionate and enthusiastic of any race. The main food of Japan include – rice, sushi, seasonal and local food, fish, meat and other foodstuffs.

It can be said that in order to set up and expand the retail business of Next Plc in Japan, at first the firm should understand the key elements as well as the dimensions of the Japanese culture. Additionally, the particular organization should focus on the impact put by the Japanese on the business. However, if Next Plc or any other businesses fall short to understand and make proper adjustments, they might unwittingly offend the sensibilities of Japan and will fail in their detections. Thus, detailed study of the elements along with the dimensions and their effect on the Japanese businesses are considered as an important factor (Taras, Steel & Kirkman, 2012). Furthermore, the key factors should also be compared and contrasted with the business culture of the home country of the company Next Plc that is United Kingdom, in order to identify the proper adjustments that should be made for better running of the business in Japan. The seven key elements and the dimensions that are needed to be measured by the business before expanding it in the market of Japan, include – languages, communication, ethics, religion, attitudes and values, customs and manners and the social structures. It has been found that in the business operation and regulation, Japanese communication is an essential factor of everyday transaction. Moreover, it has been found from a detailed study that the Japanese remain very careful in their process of communication, especially, in the settings of a business in Japan. In case of dealing with the local businesses, the people of the country mainly communicate in Japanese as it is the most common language. The Buddhism and Shintoism have mainly influenced the process by which the Japanese generally conduct the businesses (Fujita et al., 2013). Moreover, it has been found that the people of Japan usually respect the people of business who work hard for the business operation and regulation. They believe that by sacrificing and diligent work, a person can attach her/ him with pooled and greater life-force and can comply with the ethical expectations of the Japan’s society. It has been found that the ethics of the Japanese business mainly reflect the religion and the culture of the nation.

Generally, the Japanese workers are subordinated to their companies and thus in turn they are expected to be subordinated to their nation. In addition to these, the Japanese businesses are assumed to work diligently for creating mutually beneficial transactions. Additionally, the integration of attitudes, values, customs and manners into the local businesses generally go hand in hand. It has been found that the good manners, sincerity and politeness are counted as the important factors for the etiquette of Japanese business. The gestures, dress and emotion are similar in case of British, Japanese businesses as both of them are restrained and formal in the business conduct, and both respect each other’s rituals (Craig, 2015). However, there are also various differences between them. British are much individualistic and the Japanese are more collectivistic. On the other hand, the Japanese people are more masculine in the preference of culture, whereas, the U.K. is fairly less masculine in cultural preference. It has been found that the people of Japan are more risk adverse for their nature of collectivism and the British have lower uncertainty avoidance that is they prefer to take more risks due to their individualistic nature. The Japanese are long term oriented, whereas, the British are short term oriented. Additionally, the British are Universalist and the Japanese are Particularist in nature. The British generally report directly and the Japanese report in a diffused way. Finally, it can be said that the U.K. have some elements of Confucian Dynamism, whereas, Japanese has scored very high (Sugimoto & Swain, 2016). Therefore, it can be said that there are various differences between both the cultures of British and the Japanese.                    

As per the particular framework, the five cultural dimensions include – individualism versus collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, Nurturing versus achievement and long-term orientation.

Power Distance – Japan scored high in this dimension and it correlates with the hierarchical system at the table of negotiation. However, the U.K. scored relatively lower, though important members were recognized, as this was not considered as a vital factor (Simmons, 2016).

Individualism versus Collectivism – In the aspect of thinking, British is more individualistic and thus they display themselves through inner judgment for making decision. On the contrary, the Japanese people scored comparatively lower in this scale and have identified their tendencies of collectivism (Targum, Nakagawa & Sato, 2013). Thus, their decision-making ability is consensus based and tackles all the problems holistically.

Uncertainty Avoidance – It has been found that the people of Japan are more risk adverse as their nature is of collectivist kind. On the other hand, the British has lesser uncertainty avoidance. This implies that the British prefer to take more risks, as they are individualism in nature.

Long term Orientation – The British mainly focuses on tackling of issues in short duration, thus, it can be said that they have a short term orientation. On the other hand, the Japanese put more importance on long term, thus they are considered as having long term orientation (Bochner, 2013).

Achievement versus Nurturing – It has been found that the British mainly put focus on their achievement, whereas, the Japanese people mainly highlight on their quality of life and relationships.

Conclusion

Therefore, from the above detailed analysis, it can be said that the United Kingdom based company Next Plc can expand its business in the market of Japan, as there are a few similarities between the two cultures. It has been found that the above mentioned cultures have similarities only in the aspect of emotion, dress code and gestures. However, these do not have any similarities in the five aspects of the Hofstede’s 5 Cultural Dimensions. These include – firstly, individualism versus collectivism, secondly, power distance, thirdly, uncertainty avoidance, fourthly, Nurturing versus achievement and lastly, long-term orientation. Thus, it can also be said that the particular company Next Plc of U.K. might face various issues in the process of international (expanding) business in Japan.

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