W. Mark Fruin and Masao Nakamura
This paper aims to present a general review of the circumstances of America and Japan's rapid corporate, economic and industrial development in the twentieth century.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a general review of the circumstances of America and Japan's rapid corporate, economic and industrial development in the twentieth century.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach considered and evaluated how the circumstances of America and Japan's growth might apply to China and India, two of the fastest growing economies of the twenty‐first century.
Findings
The findings suggest that both America and Japan might be considered exceptional cases and, as such, neither one might be regarded as a good model for emulation. However, the circumstances of Japan's rapid growth appear closer to those of contemporary China and India and on that basis the authors suggest that Japan might be a better model for emulation.
Originality/value
The American model is too novel and unlikely to be imitated, replicated or repeated whereas Japan's high population density, agrarian origins, state assisted and administered development, adaptation and hybridization of local and imported methods and technologies, kinship, pseudo‐kinship and locality based business groupings, and rapid, come‐from‐behind charge toward industrialization, urbanization and international emergence, all suggest that Japan offers a more relevant and useful development model.
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Masao Nakamura and W. Mark Fruin
The Chinese economy, among other developing economies in Asia, has experienced extraordinary growth in the last decade. Yet, for China and other newly emerging economies in Asia…
Abstract
Purpose
The Chinese economy, among other developing economies in Asia, has experienced extraordinary growth in the last decade. Yet, for China and other newly emerging economies in Asia to grow in a sustainable manner, good corporate governance and management mechanisms must be in place. The authors aim to explore this issue in this paper. The authors also aim to particularly point out that Japan's experience both before after the Second World War will be relevant as a model for China's public and business development policy decision‐making.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors apply well‐established theories of economic development and organizational structures of business organizations to Japan's experience before and after the Second World War and then to contemporary China's experience. The analysis of Japan uses the substantial research findings on the development of that country available in the business history literature.
Findings
The paper's analysis shows multiple ways in which China and other emerging East Asian economies can take advantage of Japan's experience (which is called the Japan model here) for their own development policies and achieve sustainable growth in the long run. For example, it is expected that Japan's experiences may be relevant in areas such as: firm formation and the utility of business groups of various types; development of industrial relations and employment practices; interactions between business and government in the promotion of economic development; and how these factors relate to technology advances on a worldwide basis.
Originality/value
The findings reported in this paper also contribute marginally to the literature by considering the recent experience of Chinese private and state‐owned corporations, including international joint ventures, in the context of Japan's experience in its economic and business development history.
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Alfred D. Chandler was the most important business historian of the twentieth century, who described and analyzed how large industrial firms are organized and managed in the USA…
Abstract
Purpose
Alfred D. Chandler was the most important business historian of the twentieth century, who described and analyzed how large industrial firms are organized and managed in the USA from the late nineteenth to late twentieth centuries.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a personal memoir and tribute to Dr Chandler and examines his methods, selected writings, and his legacy.
Findings
His concepts and models are widely accepted and applied to North America, Western Europe, and most advanced industrial economies, taking on an air of universality. At the close of the twentieth century, however, a rise of high‐tech industries and rapidly growing, non‐western economies challenged many of the universalistic assumptions embedded in Chandler's work. At the beginning of the twenty‐first century, Chandler's writings suggest nothing more than how much time, place, and people matter.
Originality/value
This paper adds a more personal touch to Dr Chandler.
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Kiyohiko Ito and Elizabeth L. Rose
As companies grow and increase the number of products they have on offer, they generally change and adapt their organizational structures, in order to arrange their resources and…
Abstract
As companies grow and increase the number of products they have on offer, they generally change and adapt their organizational structures, in order to arrange their resources and product mix in ways that will create value. We analyze various corporate structures that have been adopted by U.S., European, and Japanese companies, in the context of the resource‐based view of the firm. These corporate structures include functional, divisional, conglomerate diversification, core competence‐based diversification, and keiretsu. We also identify an emerging structure. This recent development is a network of alliances, aimed at pursuing economies of scale, scope, and speed.
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Balázs Vaszkun and William M. Tsutsui
The purpose of this paper is to trace the origins of “Japanese management” and explain how it was institutionalized. This historical overview aims to help readers to better…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to trace the origins of “Japanese management” and explain how it was institutionalized. This historical overview aims to help readers to better understand and evaluate recent events and reforms.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews the major literature of management history in Japan and conceptualizes these works into a framework of four main paradigms characterizing the production systems, behavioural elements, organizational structures and strategy of large Japanese companies.
Findings
Japanese management thought evolved in a developing nation and primarily in the manufacturing sector. The scientific management paradigm was dominant from the start of modern industry in Japan and its endurance is explained by its profound embeddedness in the Japanese business system. The need for change (e.g. in strategy) is identified, but as Japan has proved reluctant in the past to shift away from the efficiency concept, effecting reforms may remain difficult in the future as well.
Research limitations/implications
The paper challenges readers to consider the future of longstanding Japanese management practices in an economy that is undergoing rapid change and is increasingly moving toward service and knowledge‐intensive industries.
Practical implications
The paper highlights the need to follow closely the current reforms and management trends in Japan, as they may lead to a decisive redesign of the traditional system more‐or‐less preserved since the Second World War. Following its logic on strategy, firms may reinforce their reorientation from pure cost‐leadership goals.
Originality/value
This paper deals with management history in Japan as the emergence of four basic paradigms, where the fourth is newly identified here. The paper will be helpful to academics who study management history as well as current management practices in Japan. Practitioners will benefit by understanding the roots and applicability of methods being currently used.
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International business (IB) emerged in the 1950s and 1960s when cross-border business was expanding rapidly. This expansion came to an abrupt halt in the 1970s, when global…
Abstract
International business (IB) emerged in the 1950s and 1960s when cross-border business was expanding rapidly. This expansion came to an abrupt halt in the 1970s, when global economic growth stagnated and a series of crises and challenges raised for IB scholars the same question confronting us today: whether the contemporary crises marked a temporary interruption to the increasing global economic integration of the post-World War II era or a major turning point toward a more fragmented world. Reflecting back on how the IB field responded to this earlier era of disruption can provide some useful guidance for IB scholars today, especially in terms of the value of detailed sector-specific case studies, closer interaction with researchers in the social sciences, and a renewed focus on MNCs as actors engaged in shaping the multiple environments in which they operate.
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Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and…
Abstract
Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and shows that these are in many, differing, areas across management research from: retail finance; precarious jobs and decisions; methodological lessons from feminism; call centre experience and disability discrimination. These and all points east and west are covered and laid out in a simple, abstract style, including, where applicable, references, endnotes and bibliography in an easy‐to‐follow manner. Summarizes each paper and also gives conclusions where needed, in a comfortable modern format.
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This article is a shortened version of a Master’s dissertation for the Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies. It deals with issues of appraisal. Such issues involve…
Abstract
This article is a shortened version of a Master’s dissertation for the Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies. It deals with issues of appraisal. Such issues involve fundamental concepts on what records are, why they are kept, and their life cycle. The answers to these questions were sought and found in the history of archives, and in the specialist literature. The theory and the methodology adopted were then applied to a case study of a recently established organisation in Lisbon, which has, at the core of its business, information in electronic format.