Bridging gaps: IJI Chairperson Geetanjali Kirloskar, flanked by NASSCOM's Kiran Karnik (R) and Toshio Takata of OKI Technocollage

Tokyo, circa: September 2004: You are making a pitch to a large Japanese bank for a multi-million it contract. The bank's team of middle level managers, some 14 of them, listens to your PowerPoint hard sell with rapt attention, even nodding as you move from one USP to another USP. An elated you returns home, convinced the deal is all but signed and sealed.

Bangalore, Circa: November 2004: It's been more than two months, but repeated phone calls and faxed messages to the bank's point person haven't elicited any reply, except to say that your proposal is being reviewed. And you are as foxed as foxed can be. What did you do wrong?

Until recently, it may have been solely upto you to figure Japan Inc. out. But succour is at hand. The Pune-based Kirloskar Foundation, a not-for-profit venture, has set up a unique initiative called the India-Japan Initiative (IJI) to help Indian and Japanese companies do business with each other better. There are two broad areas of focus: business and culture. In the former, manufacturing and it are the thrust areas, and in the latter, it ranges from teaching Japanese women how to wear a sari to sake appreciation.

The six-month-old forum plans to hold two workshops each every six months. The latest one, for it companies (where NASSCOM is a partner; for manufacturing, it's CII) on "How to do Business with Japan" was held in Bangalore recently. Says Geetanjali Kirloskar, Chairperson of IJI: "The aim is to promote enduring associations between the peoples, governments, businesses and cultures of India and Japan."

Eleven leading Indian and Japanese companies, including Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Infosys Technologies, Sona-Koyo Steering Systems, Kentosh Toshiba, Mitsui & Co., Mitsubishi Corporation India, Sansui India, Mothersons Sumi Systems, i-flex Solutions, Bharat Forge and Tasty Bite have joined IJI as charter members.

But why is doing business with Japan so different and, as some might say, difficult? "Primarily because Japan has been an inward-looking society that is very hierarchical," explains Lalima Verma, Head, Department of Japanese Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. "Their culture is based on interpersonal relationships, where decisions are made by consensus. Country, company and family come before individual achievements."

Differences in culture can often create gaps that are hard, if not impossible, to bridge. For example, the plight of our imaginary it marketer is purely due to poor reading of cues. Manmohan Ganesh, Director, Lotus and Chrysanthemum, a consultancy that offers training in Indian and Japanese cultures, puts it more bluntly: "If your Japanese contact nods, it doesn't necessarily mean approval. It may simply mean that he understands what you are saying."

A lack of appreciation of such nuances can make doing business with Japanese companies long-drawn and frustrating. Take i-flex, for example. Although the company had a top-selling banking software to hawk, it initially found cracking open the Japanese market extremely tough. Given that the Japanese banking industry is the world's largest in terms of assets ($3.6 trillion, or 18 per cent of bank assets globally), i-flex was loath to walk away. So six months after it first entered Japan, the company stepped up its marketing push. It not only localised its software products, but built a strong local presence through a number of partners such as Fujitsu, Hitachi and NTT. Today, i-flex boasts customers like Shinsei Bank, UFJ and Nippon Shinko Bank. Says N.R.K. Raman, coo, i-flex: "I can't stress enough how important it is to be sensitive to local business culture."

One man was, and he got rewarded for it. The man in question: Vikram Kirloskar, Vice Chairman of Toyota Kirloskar Motor. In 1989-90, when he first approached Toyota for a joint venture, he didn't write to the conglomerate's automotive division. In fact, he wrote to its textile looms business expressing interest in buying textile machinery. One thing led to another, and Kirloskar eventually ended up doing an automotive JV with the world's most competitive and valued vehicle manufacturer. Says Kirloskar, Geetanjali's husband: "There is usually a mismatch between the Japanese and Indian ways of looking at things. Japanese companies look at a longer time frame and are willing to sacrifice profit to pick up marketshare. Indian partners are keen on current profit."

But when such disparate business philosophies converge, it can lead to long-lasting and profitable ventures. After all, Japan, despite its sluggish markets, is the second-largest economy in the world.