Tag Archives: Japan

Management Focus, Gemba And… Rats In The Attic


In our last Blog, we talked about a survey that showed that 46% of outsourcing buyers were satisfied with cost savings,  26% were satisfied with transformation efforts and just 11% were satisfied with meeting innovation goals.  We went on to … Continue reading

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A Well Managed Core


The nuclear disaster in Japan is the case study that just keeps on giving. Putting aside the policy and planning issues about the reactor itself, there is another problem, the extent of which  we still don’t know. The power plant, … Continue reading

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A Tsunami Of Problems


The problems in Japan continue, as do the truly heroic efforts to contain the disaster. Still, how did this all happen? Now that we have some information, we can put together the pieces. The first piece is simply that all … Continue reading

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Yes, THAT Butterfly Effect…


My childhood image of Japan is forever tied to the giant monster movies of the 60’s and 70’s, chief of which was Godzilla. Sure, everyone remembers Godzilla, rising menacingly out of Tokyo Bay, but there were many other less memorable … Continue reading

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A Moment for Japan…


Rather than the normal discussions of corporate issues, I thought that today we would pause for a moment and just offer our best wishes to colleagues, friends and family in Japan. It’s difficult for us to really understand the level … Continue reading

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Don’t Look Now!


One final lesson from “Freakonomics”, and then we’re done with Sumo wrestling. In the last post, we chatted about Sumo wrestlers who lost matches to help fellow wrestlers. The Japanese didn’t believe that Sumo wrestlers could cheat. Betraying their profession, … Continue reading

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