Asian versus Western Management Thinking

Book excerpt: 'Navigating paradigm changes is a critical element of business leadership: analog to digital; brand to retailer to consumer; reason to emotion; West to East. Anything that illuminates these powershifts is valuable for the fast-moving decision-maker, and in this respect Asian versus Western Management Thinking is a first-rate inquiry into cultural business behaviors. Insular frameworks of thinking and action matter less by the second. I'm an And/And practitioner and my experience of bridging business between East and West, and vice versa, suggests we need to know the human distinctions that matter and the harmonies that will matter even more. Between the covers of this book by Kimio Kase and colleagues, business moves forward.' Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi, Lovemarks Company 'Having lived and worked my entire life in various countries around the world, I agree with the authors' premise that Asians and Westerners often approach business problems from different angles. Rather than focusing on differences, I welcome the strength that comes from diversity. As my experience at Renault and Nissan has demonstrated, the richest solutions come when ideas are challenged or questioned by people who have a different perspective. This book illustrates the value of accepting diverging ideas as a fact of life that can be used to enhance the world in which we all live and work.' Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Renault-Nissan Alliance 'A most welcome addition to the unbalanced management literature about the 'analytical' West and the 'synthetic' East. For too long the field has been dominated by comparisons of cultural value systems which paradoxically tell us precious little about how habits of mind influence management thinking and practice in different parts of the world over time. At a time when the world's economic centre of gravity is visibly shifting to Asia, this really is a most timely book.' Nigel Holden, Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for International Business at the University of Leeds, UK