Introduction to Japanese Politics by Hayes Louis D

Author:Hayes, Louis D.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Major Strengths

According to Edward J. Lincoln, Japanese products have often enjoyed price advantages over their foreign competitors for several reasons.43 First is the Japanese approach to quality control, ironically based on methods developed in the US. Second, the Japanese took advantage of an inventory control system called “just-in-time production” to reduce costs, a process developed by the Toyota Motor Company in the 1930s. In this process a manufacturer maintains only enough parts on the production line to keep it running for a short time, as little as one hour. Only about three-fifths of the day’s production is kept in stock; the rest is “in the pipeline,” so to speak. Third, there is “close cooperation in the movement of new technologies and products from concept to production.”44 Fourth is the cooperative relationship between subcontractors and the corporation. Fifth is an emphasis on continuous change in product design and the processes of manufacturing. Improvements are continuous, rather the result of one major breakthrough.45 Sixth is a corporate philosophy that places less emphasis on short-term profits than on long-term market share. Finally, there is the substantial worker commitment to the welfare of the company, fewer occupational ranks from top to bottom, and greater cooperation across functional departments.46

Japan enjoys a significant competitive advantage in many product areas because of manufacturing flexibility afforded by the existence of a large number of smaller producers. As a consequence Japanese producers have been able to effect important product changes more easily than their counterparts in other countries, where greater reliance on mass-production techniques inhibits continuous design modification.47 This flexibility means that Japanese manufacturers can concentrate on product quality and consumer demand, rather than being limited to a competitive relationship with other manufacturers defined primarily by prices.

Another distinctive feature of Japanese industrial organization is the fact that companies avoid diversification. Unlike American firms, where mergers and acquisitions are common and result in conglomerates of companies whose activities are unrelated to one another, Japanese companies, even the bigger ones, prefer to limit themselves to a single, clearly defined industry.48 After 1987 Japan surpassed the US in industrial expansion and modernization. In 1989 the Japanese spent about $750 billion on capital development, compared with $500 billion for the US.49 Some of this investment went into the modernization of traditional industries, such as steel production, enabling the Japanese to compete with producers with lower labor costs such as South Korea. Other areas of industrial development are particularly relevant to export industries, giving the Japanese important competitive advantages. Japan established a lead in the development and use of industrial robots, with the result that there were more such cost-cutting tools in use in Japan than in the rest of the world combined. Japan also took the lead over its foreign competitors in areas of computer-controlled manufacturing processes. Automation not only reduces labor costs but increases product quality and reliability. Such technical achievements are possible, in part, because of the availability of skilled manpower, in particular engineers and technicians. Emphasis has been placed on

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