Word: keiretsu
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Japanese carmakers have forged stronger relationships with suppliers than have the Big Three, inspired in part by Japan's keiretsu system, in which suppliers bond with manufacturers for the long haul. By no means is the system perfect; Nissan nearly went bankrupt in the late 1990s because of cronyism and other inefficiencies in its keiretsu. But suppliers, in both the U.S. and Japan, have been more willing to invest in equipment to manufacture new technologies--such as hybrid electric-gasoline engines--out of confidence that Japanese automakers won't abandon them, or the technology, before they can recoup costs...
...helps to have a partner in the export market you have targeted--whether a distributor, equipment manufacturer or systems integrator--that knows the vagaries of the market and has relationships with your potential customers. WaveSmith's partner in Japan, NetOne, is part of a telecommunications keiretsu, a network of businesses that own stakes in one another. NetOne used WaveSmith's product in NTT Communications' telephone-equipment offices nationwide. It is now integrating the technology into the Internet and telephony systems of other undisclosed Japanese companies. This has expanded WaveSmith's Japanese customer base almost overnight. About a fourth of WaveSmith...
...TIME: Everybody used to think the keiretsu system was a brilliant business model. Not anymore. Why? Ghosn: The keiretsu system can be very effective if it is performance-driven, if you develop strong cross functionality. If it becomes a tradition, a cozy way of doing business, then you're lost...
...words may have been in the country already and may have even gained a social foothold ("day trader," "erectile dysfunction"), but they weren't here officially, so to speak. They had to watch over their shoulders for the authorities. Viewed with suspicion by traditionalists because of foreign-sounding names ("keiretsu") or unconventional customs ("air kiss"), such words risked deportation at any moment...
...strategy is putting pressure on the competition. Traditional venture-capital outfits like Kleiner Perkins and powerful newcomers such as David Weatherell's CMGI have been assembling their own Internet conglomerates. Now they may have to do battle with Softbank. "These keiretsu are going to face off like football teams," says Howard Anderson, founder of consultants the Yankee Group. Yahoo competes with Lycos, which CMGI covets, and Kleiner Perkins' WebGrocer will be up against Softbank's Webvan, another online supermarket based in California...