Business Studies
Examples of Culture and Leadership Impacting on Business Outcomes
Culture and leadership cannot fail to have an impact on business and the way outcomes in business are achieved, which may support success or lead to difficulties. The case of Honda and the U.S. And Disney in France are two good examples.
Following the Second World War the Japanese economy has been devastated. The Japanese received aid from the Allies in order to rebuild their commercial base. A number of companies sought to enter the U.S. market, one of these was Honda. Honda leadership had adopted a very formalized approach to strategizing, developing a tactic for the firm to enter the U.S. market selling large motorcycles, competing with companies such as Harley-Davidson. However, the large motorcycles which were successful in Japan, were not well suited to the U.S. taste or roads (Thompson, 2008). The sales representatives which...
However, as part of the Japanese culture, where there is honor in being humble, and a long-term orientation, rather than riding the large motorcycles, the sales representatives were using small economical motorcycles on which to travel. The long-term orientation and a high degree of collectivism which placed pressure on the sales representatives to make sales for the benefit of the company and the Japanese society, facilitated a more flexible approach, and the ability to take advantage of an opportunity when it arose (Hofstede, 2012; Thompson, 2008). While the larger motorcycles were not popular, the small economic motorcycles gained some attention, the Honda representatives started to receive enquiries regarding sales of the smaller motorcycles. Honda eventually became successful in the U.S. selling the smaller motorcycles; initially through the Sears…
