Trends in Japanese Management

In the past, Japanese management has been described and judged in the context of its similarities and differences from American systems. The period of economic decline during the 1990s produced a wave of studies focusing on the failure of Japanese management according to western criteria. Yet Japanese manufacturing firms have continued to hold competitive power in the world market. This book does not seek to measure Japanese management against US models, but to identify the institutional specificity of Japanese Management and the reasons behind its continued competitiveness. The book explores the strategy and structure of Japanese manufacturing corporations to discover the essential features and strength of Japanese management systems, their problems, new trends and the reasons behind their emergence. Kono and Clegg look at the causes and consequences of recession in Japan and consider how management strategies have been developed for future success. Based on data from over two hundred corporations, the authors focus on the following elements to build up a picture of Japanese management systems: - Top management and governance structure - Goals and philosophies of organisations - Product-market strategy - Capability structure - Operations - The decision making process Kono and Clegg present here a new, sophisticated analysis of Japanese manufacturing corporations that will enable the reader to better understand Japanese management systems and their potential to lay a foundation for successful management systems throughout the world.