Episode #117: How To Handle We Are Happy With Our Current Supplier

Why do so many Japan-based organisations struggle to change suppliers or adopt new ideas?

Japan often prefers the “Devil they know over the Angel they don’t know.” In many 日本企業 (Japanese companies), change is difficult because mistakes carry heavy social and career penalties. Salaried employees rarely receive rewards for taking risks, yet they can face serious downsides if an initiative fails. As a result, risk aversion becomes a default business setting, and personal accountability is often avoided rather than embraced.

Mini-summary: In Japan, avoiding failure is frequently seen as more important than pursuing improvement, so change stalls before it starts.

A common frustration in Japan is the lack of a single visible decision-maker. Meetings may include only a few people, but those attendees are rarely the final authority. Decisions travel through layers of internal stakeholders—an unseen “iceberg” of approvals.

This process is tightly linked to 稟議 (ringi / consensus-based approval process), where a proposal circulates through departments and leaders, gathering approvals step by step.

Mini-summary: Decisions in Japan are collective, layered, and often invisible—so progress depends on aligning many people, not just the meeting room.

Japanese organisations rely on structured internal checks and balances. This ensures strong internal communication and prevents unpleasant surprises, which many individuals find stressful. At the same time, it invites every vested interest to weigh in, meaning fast action is not automatically viewed as positive.

A visible symbol of this is the 判子 (hanko / personal seal stamp) system. A document proposing change physically moves desk to desk until each section head stamps approval. Nothing moves forward until every stamp is collected.

Mini-summary: Consensus and hanko approvals protect harmony—but they also make change slow, cautious, and highly political.

Why are supplier relationships especially hard to disrupt in Japan?

Supplier arrangements in Japan are often deeply relational and historical. Even in large corporations, teams may be satisfied with current vendors because switching creates extra internal effort and risk. In small to mid-size firms, power may be concentrated in a strong owner who delegates execution to others, meaning you may never meet the true final authority.

Many supplier ties are multi-generational: the current vendor may have supported the buyer’s family business for decades. Shared school backgrounds, family marriages, club memberships, or elite networks like ロータリークラブ (Rotary Club) reinforce loyalty.

Mini-summary: Supplier bonds in Japan are more than business—they’re legacy, identity, and social capital, so switching feels like betrayal.

What motivates Japanese companies to change despite inertia?

One fear overrides all others: being left behind by competitors. Globalisation, demographic decline, technical disruption, and currency shifts are shaking old supplier-buyer harmony. When companies believe rivals might gain an advantage first, the pressure to act becomes real.

This means that merely explaining benefits, quality, or price is usually not enough. The real trigger is competitive urgency: “If you don’t change, your competitor will—and you’ll lose.”

Mini-summary: In Japan, the strongest driver of change isn’t opportunity—it’s the threat of falling behind.

How should sales and leadership teams frame change to win approval in Japan?

In Japan, fear drives action more strongly than greed. To move a system built on caution, you must lead with the downside of non-action, not only the upside of your solution.

Effective approaches include:

• Showing how competitors could weaponize your advantage.

• Demonstrating past examples where supplier rigidity destroyed companies.

• Highlighting external inevitabilities: global supply shifts, shrinking domestic markets, tech advances, currency pressure.

• Emphasising urgency and time risk.

This equips your internal champions with the “nuclear harpoon” they need to win the approval stamps behind the wall.

Mini-summary: To create change in Japan, make the cost of staying the same feel riskier than the cost of switching.

What capabilities do leaders need to succeed in Japan’s change-resistant environment?

Leaders operating in Japan must master:

• Influence without authority (because decision-makers are distributed).

• Consensus building across stakeholders.

• Risk framing and competitive storytelling.

• Clear, culturally aware communication that prevents surprise and loss of face.

These are core outcomes in リーダーシップ研修 (leadership training), 営業研修 (sales training), and プレゼンテーション研修 (presentation training) delivered by Dale Carnegie Tokyo.

Mini-summary: Success in Japan requires leaders who can align people, reduce fear, and create urgency without breaking harmony.

• Japan’s business culture is highly risk-averse, so change needs a bigger reason than “better quality” or “lower price.”

• Decision-making is collective (稟議 / ringi) and reinforced through 判子 / hanko approvals.

• Supplier loyalty is often multi-generational and socially embedded.

• Competitive threat is the most powerful lever to overcome inertia in 日本企業 (Japanese companies) and 外資系企業 (multinational companies) alike.

Founded in the U.S. in 1912, Dale Carnegie Training has supported individuals and companies worldwide for over a century in leadership, sales, presentation, executive coaching (エグゼクティブ・コーチング / executive coaching), and DEI training (DEI研修 / Diversity, Equity & Inclusion training). Our Tokyo office, established in 1963, has been empowering both Japanese and multinational corporate clients ever since.