1st Edition

Japanese Management in Evolution New Directions, Breaks, and Emerging Practices

Edited By Tsutomu Nakano Copyright 2018
    320 Pages 37 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    336 Pages 37 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Japanese Management in Evolution illustrates the significant changes that have been taking place in Japanese business by focusing on "emerging industries" in the relatively neglected service and "creative" sectors as well as other key industries, and to put those changes in historical perspective by providing an overview of business development since World War II. By employing state-of-the-art research techniques and unconventional innovative approaches in analysing Japanese management – including network and discourse analysis, ethnographic explorations, and more – the book reveals historical developments and in-depth analyses of established and emerging composition of sectors and industries where cultural capital matters. Throughout the book, the common theme conveyed to readers is a consistently strong message that the change is ongoing and the evolution of management style is real in the Japanese context.

    The book would be of great interest to researchers, academics and practitioners in fields of global management, international management, and Asian capitalism.

    Part I: Overview and Introduction

    1. The Japanese Business and Management in Evolution (Tsutomu Nakano)

    Part II: Changes in Governance, Management System and Ownership

    2. The Evolution of Ownership Structure in Japanese Firm (1962-2012) (Jungwook Shim and Toru Yoshikawa)

    3. The Functionality of Hybrid Organizational Form: An Overview of Research on Business Units of Japanese Firms (Toshihiko Kato, Tsuyoshi Numagami, Masatoshi Fujiwara, and Masaru Karube)

    4. Japanese Family Firms between Tradition and Transition (Tim Goydke)

    Part III. Breaks and Evolution in Manufacturing and Service Sectors

    5. The Decline of the Japanese Flat Panel Display Industry: Causes of Failure and Implications (Derek Lehmberg)

    6. Monozukuri Management: Driver of Sustained Competitiveness in the Japanese Auto Industry (Daniel Heller and Takahiro Fujimoto)

    7. Who Imitates Whom?: A Study on New Product Introductions in the Japanese Non-alcoholic Beverage Industry (Shigeru Asaba and Marvin Lieberman)

    Part IV: Creative Industries and Cultural Capital in New Paradigms

    8. Networks and Management in the Japanese Creative Industries (Naoki Wakabayashi, Jin-ichiro Yamada, and Masaru Yamashita)

    9. Japanese Youth Subcultures as an Alternative Fashion System and a New Business Model (Yuniya Kawamura)

    10. Culture as a New Frontier of Business: A Study of Service Provider-Customer Interactions at Sushi Bars in Tokyo (Yutaka Yamauchi)

    11. Japan’s High-End Audio Equipments Industry in Transition: Pragmatic Valuation of "Hi-Fi" Sound and Valorization through Networks (Tsutomu Nakano)

    Part V. Managerial Innovations, New Directions, and Emerging Practices

    12. The Evolution of the ICT Start-up Eco-system in Japan: From Corporate Logic to Venture Logic? (Masahiro Kotosaka and Mari Sako)

    13. An Emerging Interpretation of CSR by Japanese Corporations: An Eco-System Approach to Simultaneous Pursuit of Social and Economic Values through Core Businesses (Masahiro Okada)

    14. The Change and Continuity of Accounting Professionals in Japan: Interpretive Policy Analysis Perspective (Saori Matsubara and Takahiro Endo)

    15. HRM Research on Japanese Organizations in the Twenty-First Century: Review and Emerging Research Topics (Yoshio Yanadori)

    Biography

    Tsutomu Nakano is Professor of Organization and Strategy at the Graduate School of International Management, Aoyama Gakuin University. He received his PhD in sociology from Columbia University and is on the external faculty of the Center on Organizational Innovation. His research interests include valuation studies, clusters, organizations and networks, and social design. In 2015-16, he took visiting positions at Copenhagen Business School, ENS Cachan, and MPIfG.

    'This book on changing patterns of Japanese management is a helpful contribution to better understand the emergence of new and creative industries within a setting of strong established sectors like the manufacturing industries. This innovative collection is an important read for anyone who want to understand new developments in Japanese business management.'Professor Cornelia Storz, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany

    'For many years, books on Japan focused on Japanese characteristics of success, contrasting those characteristics with US or Western characteristics. As Japan lost its popularity, the change and evolution in the Japanese business environment and the variation within the Japanese system should have grabbed the interest of researchers. It has not done so. This book strives to redress this neglect. The readers are taken on a tour of the current Japanese business environment in a number of key areas of business success. The ‘tour guides’ are some of the most capable scholars of the Japanese system, both Japanese and non-Japanese, all familiar with Japan in a wider world-wide context via joint research projects or academic training.

    Variation is illustrated by a series of industry studies. Some like audio, examine an existing industry which must respond to new challenges; others in culture-based industries which continue to have appeal in a world looking for variety in experiences define a new image for Japan and its products. In contrast to the traditional focus on manufacturing, the book includes studies of service industries, and of the professional services that support the new directions presented in the book. In chapters addressing corporate social responsibility, family firms and firm management structure, the reader gets a better understanding of the tension in Japanese business between conformity to world norms and the continued value of ‘traditional’ Japanese business structures.

    Like an elegant kaiseki meal, the reader is treated to a taste of the many flavors that is the Japanese economy and business system in 2017. The reader should enjoy the meal.' — Tom Roehl, Professor of International Business, Western Washington University, and Founding Member and Past President, Association of Japanese Business Studies

    'Professor Nakano has assembled a deep and rich collection of original articles by top-flight scholars on an array of leading-edge issues in contemporary Japanese business. The book is thus a uniquely valuable contribution to understanding the structure and functioning of the Japanese economy today.'James R. Lincoln, Mitsubishi Bank Professor Emeritus, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley

    'Japan keeps changing, and this book is a welcome and much needed update on current management practices as well as on Japanese academic analysis of these changes. Ranging in topics from large company reorganization to startup management, the book offers a great "lay of the land" of the discourse in Japan regarding business strategy, management practices from sushi bars to TV panel manufacturing to professional firms, ownership and CSR positioning, and HR practices in a fast-changing labor market. It is a rare treat to find, in one place, a representation of the Japanese current thinking on these issues.'Ulrike Schaede, Professor of Japanese Business, University of California San Diego