OMG Look how hard it was for Microsoft

[swayinOtis]

a friend of mine was in japan recently. he said they have these "complement houses" where you go in an pay people to give you compliments and to say positive things about you. i just lose it on that.

 

[mdennison]

"Later, when Microsoft announced that the Japanese Xbox launch would miss the all-important holiday shopping season in Japan due to hardware production problems, Kitaue recalls screaming "You stupid idiot!" to Ohura on the phone. "

LMAO!

 

[Ioman]

<< Ioman, it sounds like you aren't even trying to understand a culture and business style that might
be different from your own experience.

Personal Loyalty and Responsibilty are very important in Japanese culture, and people's careers
can be made or broken solely on the basis of what companies you work for and with.
For many business relationships there is no such thing as working "with" someone; when you
agree to a deal, then that companies success is supposed to be just as important to you as your
own. You don't commit to go "the extra mile" like we would do in the US, you commit to going
all the way.

Nobody in modern Japan really expects someone to sacrifice themselves for a business deal, but
almost everyone expects someone to stick with the deal no matter how bad or expensive things
might get, because thats how much giving your word means in that culture.

In the US, when a company screws up the CEO gets out by retiring with a "Golden Parachute"
of several million in cash and company stock. When the CEO of a failing company in Japan steps down
(by choice) it is not unusual to see them give back money and stock to try and repair the damage
left behind under his management... the Japanese take failure personally.

Because of that, even though it sounds like they might be playing games to us, Businessmen over there
are very serious about making sure the people they do deals with are just as serious about being
successful as they are. Microsoft has built their reputation on often changing strategies and
business deals in mid-stream - a reputation that looks very untrustworthy from their point of view.
Are you really that surprised that they would want to make sure that Micro-"Oh, we'll fix that in
a service pack later"-Soft is just as dead serious about making sure the launch of the XBox was
done on time and without any major issues? Every black mark against MS for the XBox is also
a black mark against the companies that supported the XBox at launch.

No wonder Kitaue was so mad at Ohura over the launch delay... the announcement probably
set his position in the company back several years, if not risking getting him reassigned (or fired)
outright. For a typical Japanese to yell "You Stupid idiot" even over the phone to someone else
(who is not a member of the immediate family) is pretty fscking serious.

You think its crap that MS gets to answer scary questions in order to make a deal, but Tecmo probably
thinks its crap to get backstabbed by unfulfilled promises when they have a multimillion dollar product
release on the line.

EDIT: Looking at your later messages I think I understand more what you were thinking, but this has
nothing to do with Microsoft being a US company. It might have a little to do with MS being a foreign
company to the Japanese (in the console market)... The Japanese are quite familiar with MS as a computer
company, and even to this day have to deal with two different versions of Windows for everything becuase
of some bad deals (misunderstandings) made in the early days of the PC market over there.
But ultimately this has much more to do with how they value strategic business deals, regardless of
who makes them. >>



I understand how business is run. It is sad that business's are run out of coruption but this is business. Making a person say "Would you die for Japan" or involving women and chocolate cake ina sick ritual is not normal business. These are means to embarrass Microsoft, similar to begging, so how far they will go to get their business. This has nothing to do with loyalty. Contracts bind companies, chocolate cakes and naked women do not.

Japan does do business a lot differently that the United States and I actually RESPECT the way they do business versus the way the US does business. There is more personal involvment and responsibility. You do not need to "shame" or "embarass" or hurt our pride to work out a business deal. This is what is upsetting to me

 

[Passions]

can someone tell me what the bizarre ritual involving choclate cake was over?

 

[manly]

Ioman really is taking gaming & business dealing way too seriously.

Next up in his American corporations rant, he'll defend Philip Morris peddling cigarettes to minors in Southeast Asia.

 

[FrontlineWarrior]

boycott japanese products

 

[Ioman]

<< Ioman really is taking gaming & business dealing way too seriously.

Next up in his American corporations rant, he'll defend Philip Morris peddling cigarettes to minors in Southeast Asia. >>



haha no, I am not going to prmote Philip Morris, that is a bad comparison. I was simply pointing out how Microsoft had to do a dog and pony show at their images expense to get these developers into their camp.

Man, you just said a moron comment.

 

[gopunk]

 

[Jimbo]

can someone tell me what the bizarre ritual involving choclate cake was over?

 

[gopunk]

<< can someone tell me what the bizarre ritual involving choclate cake was over? >>



see my other thread dedicated to the discussion of the cake. none of this intellectual crap

 

[Ioman]

<< can someone tell me what the bizarre ritual involving choclate cake was over? >>



It had to do with Microsoft getting "in" with Capcom. Bonding was required. Some execs from Capsom where up in Seattle and they went out with some Microsoft execs for fun. they did a stunt where they wore head bands and had to pass cake around in a circle with your mouth only. I think there is another thread in here somewhere about it.