Why do people focus on 外資? (Gaishi or Foreign Companies)
What is a foreign company anyways?
In Japan, there are two categories that Japanese job seekers usually think of. The two categories are Japanese companies and Foreign companies. Japanese job hunters focus on whether a company is Japanese or foreign because they tend to offer two very different work styles. Are you interested to learn more about the differences between these two categories? We’ve written an article before, about the specific differences between these two companies. You can check out the article here.
Difference between Japanese and foreign company in Japan (外資, Gaishi)
We’ve also written about the difference in overtime work between Japanese and foreign companies in the following article.
Do the Japanese really overwork themselves more than others?
What kind of foreign companies are there?
What kind of companies are considered foreign companies in Japan? There is a lot of global company in Japan such as Sony and Toyota. However, those are considered Japanese companies because their headquarters are based in Japan, and the majority of the equity is owned by a Japanese entity. On the other, a foreign company is usually a local branch of the company which the headquarter is based overseas. Also, usually, a foreign companies’ equity is mainly owned by a foreign entity.
Here are some of the foreign companies that have a big presence in Japan.
This is the list of foreign companies, categorized by industry.
Consulting
McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company, Kearny, Accenture, Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, EY
Finance
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, UBS, Credit Swiss, Deutch Bank, Merrill Lynch, Citi
IT
Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Adobe, Alibaba, IBM, Salesforce
Manufacturing
P&G, Unilever, Nestle, Samsung, Intel, LVMH Group, Dupont, GE, Tesla
Others
Costco, McCann, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Thomas Reuters
Are foreign companies better than Japanese companies?
The work environment at foreign companies
What are the major differences between Japanese and foreign companies? Is it really that different? The answer is “Yes”, it is quite different. It is as different as for example working at a startup and at a major corporation in any country. In Japan, the difference between Japanese and foreign companies comes from the company rules and business model.
In foreign companies, want highly skilled and talented people, and will compensate a lot for high performers. On the other hand, Japanese companies do look for those qualities but do not compensate individuals so much with cash( or stock). Japanese companies focus on whether the person is able to work as a team and think about the best outcome for the company, not for him/herself.
Because of this difference, there is a lot of internal corporate rules and tacit knowledge to make this business model work. Everything from the work environment, welfare, and benefits, work location, all of corporate regulations and rules differ for these things, based on whether the company is foreign or Japanese.
People at foreign companies
To be more specific, you may wonder how different foreign and Japanese companies are. Other than what we’ve written before, in this article (Difference between Japanese and foreign company in Japan (外資, Gaishi)), the “people2 working at these companies might be of a different type.
Generally speaking, people who work at foreign companies are more interested in their personal career growth and are more aggressive in their work attitude. They would work hard because they get incentivized financially by the company. Therefore, they would like to network with a lot of people and tend to be the most likely people setting up profiles on LinkedIn.
However, people tend to miss the most obvious point, which is most people working at foreign companies came from Japanese companies.
It doesn’t matter if it is a foreign company or a Japanese company, the majority of the people working in either company are Japanese. They grew up in Japan, and aren’t that different from one another. The reality is, only a handful of people either studied or lived, worked overseas and personalities and character are pretty much the same in either category.
Also, a lot of people think that everyone speaks English at foreign companies and that you need to be able to speak English as well. To tell you the truth, I’m most cases you don’t really use English that much even in a foreign company. Some internal documents may be in English, but most Japanese people just use a translation tool and don’t really read the original sentences.
The reason why foreign companies come to Japan in the first place is to sell their product to Japan. Therefore, your main customer will be Japanese, and you will be speaking Japanese most of the time. Some roles do require, native level -English, but that is not limited to foreign companies. It is strange because both Japanese and foreign companies usually ask you to submit your English test scores, but really don’t care if you cant speak English.
In conclusion: Which is better?
Reasons to work at a foreign company or Japanese company
So Which is better? Working at a Japanese company or foreign company. Well, that depends on what your objective is. Are you someone who’s young and want to climb up the ranks and get a lot of money as soon as possible? In that case, working at a foreign company might be the best option for you. On the other hand, do you want a good work/life balance and want to work at the same company for a long time? Well, in that case, you should choose to work at a Japanese company.
It all depends on what you wish for. Foreign and Japanese companies both have their perks but you will have to think and choose about what is most important to you.
