Are Japanese big companies really slow?
We often hear that Japanese big companies are slower than startups. In fact, many big companies need to get approval by multiple decision makers and conferences before business contract engagements and costly decisions. Besides, in the case that there are not authorized plans in advance, the companies demand more processes for approvals, and have seldom approved immediately after proceeding the internal process. On the other hand, in general, startups often involve direct transactions by founders (executives), their approval process is simple, and can be decided much earlier than big companies, resulting in slow movements of large companies. In particular, since the decision speed is the key for startups to succeed and survive, the speed of Japanese big companies should be a big concern for startups which are considering the partnership and the transaction with them.
However, are Japanese big companies actually slow?
Until the business plan is clearly decided, the speed of Japanese big companies seems to be slow. They spend a lot of time for internal research and consideration under the strict internal rules, and take a long time to reach a decision. However, in parallel, they are usually proceeding the work to improve the plan and the system for them to implement immediately once the decision is made. Therefore, it is very fast because people with high practical ability can start to work at once when the approval is obtained. Once Japanese big companies start, it is difficult for startups to keep up with Japanese big companies because startups usually have limited resources at this stage and big companies are well prepared.
To answer the question, Japanese big companies are slow to start with but move fast once thereafter.
