Business Process Modeling Issues for Japanese Companies Considering Globalization
3.1. Characteristics of Traditional Business Process Improvement in Japan
When discussing the history of business process improvement in Japan, it is necessary to consider what has
been referred to as “Japanese-style management.” The “lifetime employment system” and “labor participation
in management” are two of the major characteristics of Japanese-style management. Quality circle (QC)
activities have been conducted on these conditions, and they contribute to improving the quality of Japanese
products. Not only to improve the quality of products, each employee observes the business process, and keeps
making improvements where possible.
Business process improvement used to be undertaken in a bottom-up rather than a top-down style. SouiKufuu (a Japanese word) is one of the main keywords when discussing business process improvement in Japan.
It means creative originality and ingenuity. Each motivated and skilled employee in a production line or backoffice keeps improving the business process in their own way to make it more efficient. The accumulation of
Soui-Kufuu results have become a kind of intellectual property. These are the reasons that the non-hierarchical
business process modeling method has been preferred. By using this kind of chart, employees can share
process flow information with each other. Also, recognition of ingenuity can be considered as one of the
reasons that they tend to prefer custom-made software