The Japanese firm

Masahiko Aoki and Ronald Dore have edited an authoritative account of the Japanese firm and its sources of success, including contributions from some of the best, and best known, scholars in the field. The book represents an attempt to explain and understand aspects of the firm in the Japanese economic system, and to explain the corporate success of Japan. It is interdisciplinary in approach, containing both theoretical and empirical work, and has contributions from the fields of labour economics, comparative institutional analysis, information economics, finance, organization theory, economic history, political science, and sociology. Chapters range from contemporary descriptions - of training (in overseas subsidaries as well as in Japan), of R & D structures, of product development practices, of finance and corporate governance, of trading relations, especially between small and large firms - to an historical overview of the evolution of Japanese management in the wartime planned economy. The book also situates Japan in the literature of economic analysis and in the on-going debate about trade-offs between equality and efficiency. It is held together by a strong introductory chapter by the editors. But is the Japanese system of management - characterised by lifetime employment, emphasis on the long-term, slow consensual decision making, heavy investments in training, R & D, and quality, close inter-enterprise ties, and short rations for shareholders - all in crisis and about to change fundamentally, as the contemporary media would have us believe? This book will enable the reader to decide just how solid the foundations of the Japanese enterprise system are, and to identify the rationale which lies behind it.