From Sullivan (Univ. of Washington Business School): a study that's
part exploration of the role of Japanese corporations in American
life, part critique of the current US-Japan dialogue, part how-to
for Americans working for Japanese managers - and far too
meandering and diffuse to offer a proper treatment of its many
subjects. America's view of Japan, according to Sullivan, is
polarized between the "bashers" and the "apologists." The author
attempts to critique both schools, along with their popular
incarnations, and to formulate a middle ground. From a
macro-perspective, he argues that the US has no reason to fear
Japan or Japanese investment. Sullivan amasses a broad battery of
figures and assertions, ranging from the fact that the US is
generally a more productive nation than Japan to a full-scale
assault on Japanese institutions in "second-rate" and responsive
only to "narrow constituencies," and on the Japanese business
community (its "oligopolization" places Japanese companies at a
competitive disadvantage in the fiercely contested US market,
Sullivan contends). On a micro-level, the author similarly attempts
to demystify and detoxify the negative image of Japanese
"salarymen": He declares that Japan's universities churn out
"amazingly ignorant" and "lazy" entry-level workers who are
unprepared for their stints in the US. Sullivan concludes that
because most salarymen the lifestyles they lead in the US, many
will become Americanized, helping Japan achieve
internationalization. While the notion of translating the
salaryman's motivations and behaviors for an American audience is
intriguing, Sullivan's analysis is too often fraught with broad
generalizations and sweeping leaps of logic, many of which don't
ring true (e.g., that the American business press gets much of its
information about Japan from "Japanese propaganda mills"). While
Sullivan is right to decry the gap in the current literature on
Japan, he fails to stake out new territory here. (Kirkus Reviews)
During the 1980s a host of books on management proclaimed the
triumph of Japanese companies' emphasis on corporate values,
loyalty, lifetime employment, and consensus. In the first
full-length study of Japanese direct investment in the United
States, Jeremiah Sullivan shows that Japanese companies generally
have not performed well and that part of their problem is poor
management. Contrary to popular belief, management practices in
Japan are rooted in the clever use of power rather than the
development of loyalty or values. While the system of highly
authoritarian but benevolent managers and submissive employees has
transferred well to some rural manufacturing firms in the United
States, it has fared poorly in urban areas. Using the results of
extensive interviews and surveys, Sullivan begins by profiling both
an effective and an ineffective Japanese manager in the United
States. He describes their reactions to America's individualism,
patriotism, and day-to-day work practices. Broadening the focus, he
describes economic and strategic reasons for the rush of Japanese
direct investment and summarizes the data on profitability (low),
productivity (less than U.S.-owned firms), and the impact on the
American economy (generally beneficial or, at least, harmless).
Japanese management philosophy and practices are analyzed in terms
of the idea of work, the nature of a company, and the function of
profit. Also discussed are lifetime employment, trust-building,
decision making, and communication in the organization. These
practices are shown in use both in Japan and in Japanese firms in
America. Several chapters describe training of Japanese managers
for work in the United States and of Americansin Japanese-owned
companies.
General
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