Japanese Management in the Low Growth Era: Between External Shocks and Internal Evolution

Japanese firms are in the midst of the most protracted economic crisis in their post-war history. The end of the "bubble economy" has led to a long era of low growth. This change in the general business environment has profound consequences for the management and the organization of corporate Japan, as well as for the theory of the Japanese firm. The contributions to this book cover a broad range of subjects, from the strategies and organizational structures to the management of human resources and innovation processes in the 1990s. These changes are systematically commented on by field specialists from abroad, especially Europe, relating the situation in Japan to comparable developments in other countries.

Table of Contents:
Managing in a Low Growth Era—The End of Managerial Idiosyncrasies?.- Japanese Management Practices in Historical Perspective.- Section 1 Structure, Strategy and Internationalization.- I Externalization of Organizations and the Dual Governance Structure.- II Role of Inter-organizational Networks: The Case of Japanese Corporate Groups.- Commentary: Externalization and Inter-organizational Networks. How Globalization Transforms the Japanese Model.- III Modes of Corporate Internationalization: Japanese FDI Strategies in Asia-Pacific.- IV Japanese Companies in Europe: Their Strategies and Management Practices.- Commentary.- Section 2 Corporate Governance and Control.- V Presidential Turnover and Performance in the Japanese Firm: The Evolution and Change of the Contingent Governance Structure under the Main Bank System.- VI Corporate Pension Schemes, Corporate Pension Governance, and State (De-) Regulation in Japan.- VII After Quasi-LBO Discipline: A Historical Reflection on Japanese Corporate Governance.- Commentary: From Voice to Exit? Corporate Finance Management and Corporate Governance.- Section 3 Industrial Organization.- VIII Recession and Globalization: What Future for Japanese Industrial Keiretsu?.- IX A Changing Image of Japanese Small Entrepreneurs.- Commentary: A New Step in the Evolution of Japanese Industrial Networks?.- Section 4 Human Resource Management.- X Human Resource Management in Japanese Firms Undergoing Transition: A Hierarchical Approach.- Commentary.- XI Limits and Latitude of Labour Adjustment Strategies in Japanese Companies.- Commentary.- XII Flexible Employment in Japanese Retailing: Toward a Just-in-time Employment Management.- Commentary: Flexible Employment in Japanese Retailing: Comparisons with Canada and Questions Concerning theSegmentation Theory.- Section 5 Innovation and Technology Management.- XIII Japanese Corporate R&D in the 1990s: Change and Continuity.- Commentary: Japanese R&D Management Practices: The Globalization Challenge.- XIV The Phase Variety of Product Systems and System-Based Differentiation: An Alternative View on Organizational Capabilities of the Japanese Firm for Product Innovation.- Commentary: System-Based Differentiation in Japanese Firms. Comments from a German Perspective.- Section 6 Change and Continuity: On the Transformation of the Japanese Management System.- XV Transformation of the Japanese Management System: A Contingency View.- XVI Will Japanese and French “Exceptionalisms” Vanish? The Convergence Hypothesis Reconsidered.- The Authors.