The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on The Socio-Cultural Roots of Japanese Organizations and the Coming Renaissance in Organizational Strategy and Innovation

Abstract

Starting in the early 1980s a handful of Japanese automakers began buying up American automotive car parts companies, even into Ford’s steel manufacturing subsidiary. This was only the beginning, Japanese organizations embarked on a buying spree in everything from US commercial real-estate to Hollywood production studios. Everyone was convinced that “Japan Inc.” would buy the whole of America. To put this into perspective, in 1970, 7 out of 10 of the world’s largest banks were American and none were Japanese. By 1990, 6 of the top 10 largest banks in the world were Japanese and no American bank made the list. However, within a decade this significant level of development peaked, and by 1991, the country that was arguably at the centre of industry and commerce, retreated globally. The “lost’’ decade of the 90s became two decades and by some accounts extended to three. Nevertheless, Japan’s global influence still remains formidable; it has the third largest economy in the world. This has been achieved by a nation with almost no natural resources to speak off, a nation where global export is the primary economic lifeline and its exported products are considered some of the most technologically advanced in the world with innovation being a cornerstone.

This initial paper of a series of extended research will introduce concepts of learning and knowledge creation, as well as conversion and implementation into innovation and strategic advantage. The links to Japan’s socio-cultural factors will be identified, examined, and their relationships manifesting in business organizational cultural factors and influences will be analysed. We will address how these in turn impact organizational processes resulting in corporate strategy. A key aspect is the investigation of the role that Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays within this framework. A qualitative analysis was performed to measure organizational AI adoption and utilization and direct impact on knowledge sharing. The indirect influence on corporate culture and subsequent organizational strategic advantage is conceptualized. We further consider the role AI can play in four basic strategies of advantage-development within the context of knowledge creation and sharing within the organization, that is, the identification and utilization of key factors for success; the identification of means for exploiting differences in competitive advantage among rivals; the identification of means for upsetting rival industry factors so that openings can be created; and the identification of innovation opportunities and pathways themselves.