I think Art may be pretty much right, here, particularly about the "top
down" management. Recent history (and personal experience) shows that this
type of hierarchy tends to frown on any criticism from below, hence
constructive comments dry up, and the Top becomes not only insulated but
*isolated* form any hints of disent. The ultimate result is like a
fire--where a single bucket of water (or good corrective measures, early on)
would have extinguished it in the beginning, it can destroy most or all of
the building once it's out of control.
The Japanese, of all people, should realize this. But they sometimes
misplace their egos, just as others of us do. A word to the wise. Does the
name "Bridgestone" mean anything?
Best regards--LRA
>From: Arthur Entlich <artistic@ampsc.com>
>Reply-To: filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
>To: filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
>Subject: Re: filmscanners: Nikon Service
>Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 01:57:39 -0700
>
>To the best of my knowledge, at least here in Canada, the same division
>that handles the camera repairs also handles the digital scanner
>repairs. These days, most cameras (including Nikon's) use more
>electronic circuitry than mechanical parts, so it wouldn't be a stretch
>that both camera and scanner repairs would be handled in the same place.
>
>My experience has been that a "corporate culture" is defined from the
>top down, and that you will usually see more similarities than
>differences between divisions within a company, even if they are located
>in different countries.
>
>My personal experience has been that companies headquartered in Japan
>are less attuned to their clients from around the world. I suspect this
>might also be culturally related. The Japanese culture promotes calm
>and stoicism, and respect for older corporate institutions and I'd
>suspect they find the North American consumer awareness movement, for
>example, rather of an affront.
>
>In spite of the companies having North American divisions dealing with
>their N.A. clients, I suspect that there is a top down approach to
>management coming from the head offices in Japan.
>
>Lastly, N.A. and Europe are pretty far away physically from Japan, and
>its hard to know how much gets back to head office. I have written a
>few Japanese company head offices but never received a reply. I suspect
>there are still many linguistic barriers as well.
>
>I would love to see a more hybrid kind of management approach, where a
>mix of N.A. or European customer service and consumer awareness was
>mixed with the usually superior manufacturing and quality control of
>goods produced in places like Japan.
>
>Art
>
>Austin Franklin wrote:
> >
> > > Even with your nice expensive Nikon scanner, I STILL own a lot more
> > > Nikon equipment dollar per dollar than you do, and I can speak with
> > > years of experience with their equipment as to what has happened to
>the
> > > quality of the stuff and their repair service.
> >
> > What Nikon equipment do you own, Art? Why I ask, is just because it's
> > Nikon, doesn't mean it's the same division. Typically, in a company as
> > large as Nikon, the divisions are very distinct, and one division's
> > "performance" isn't necessarily going to be the same a others.
> >
>
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