Japanese CEOs Cross-Cultural Management of Customer Value Orientation in India
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Peer reviewed
Abstract
The 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 (CVO) 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. Semi-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. The 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. The 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 focused 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. The paper identifies implications for CCM training and Indo-Japanese business organization design. The 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.