The Dynamics of Japanese Organizations by Franz-Jurgen Richter

Author:Franz-Jurgen Richter [Richter, Franz-Jurgen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780415131919
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 1996-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

Japanese Management as a Set of Business Practices

In order to answer the question of whether Japanese management is an exportable product of Japanese culture, or ‘a civilization’ as one author suggests (Hamaguchi 1987), it is essential that we distinguish between the narrower conception and the broader conception of this term. In the narrower conception, Japanese management refers to a set of business practices which have gained a wide recognition abroad by the remarkable success of the Japanese economic machine in the global marketplace in recent years. On the other hand, it is possible to conceive Japanese management in a much broader context as defining a set of organizing principles of human systems in general.

Much has already been discussed, written, and known about Japanese management in the sense of a set of business practices. While different authors emphasize different aspects, it is useful to summarize Japanese management in this narrower conception in terms of the three Japanese terms mentioned at the outset: keiretsu, kanban, and kaizen.

The term keiretsu points to the importance of ‘networking’ as a fundamental principle of organizing economic life in Japan. The networking principle implied by this term may take the form of a group of firms organized around the main bank, or a group of parts suppliers organized around the main manufacturer. It is important to recognize the systemic nature of keiretsu as a networking of business firms. Whether the networking is based on explicit contract or implicit understanding, ‘the firm as a nexus of treaties’ seems to be a fair description of the manner in which the Japanese firm operates (Aoki et al 1990).

As is well-known by now, kanban has a specific origin as a just-in-time system of inventory management. But it is possible to interpret the term as referring to a resource-management system by which the Japanese firm maintains efficiency of multi-staged production processes by economizing the use of resources, including space and time. It is, in fact, a cybernetic system of managing a diversity of resources involved in the production of products in that the idea of ‘communication and control’ is very much at the core of this system.

The term kaizen, narrowly conceived, refers to constant effort to improve the operation of a production plant. However, kaizen can also be broadly interpreted as a practice of self-managing a business organization, for it usually involves the practice of wide-spread worker participation as represented by QC movements.

Japanese management as a set of business practices has come to attract increasing attention around the world mainly because of the enormous success the Japanese economic machine has accomplished in recent years. To be more specific, these practices have proved to be effective in economizing the use of resources, reducing transaction costs, and improving the quality of products (McMillan 1992). Indeed, these practices have already been exported to other countries as Japanese transplants have been practising them in the running of their operations abroad.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.