Between 2002 and 2008, Japan's economy saw constant expansion, a
record among the world's advanced economies and Japan's longest
period of economic growth since World War II. This remarkable
achievement came about because of a transformation of Japanese
business practices. This transformation was guided by strategies
that enabled Japan's leading corporations, previously diversified
to an exceptionally high degree, to become leaner, more nimble, and
more competitive at home and in the global economy.
In Choose and Focus, the first in-depth account of this
strategic inflection point in Japanese business, Ulrike Schaede
argues that the emerging practices and attitudes have created a New
Japan. Drawing on profiles of several corporations, including
Panasonic, Takeda and Astellas, Softbank, kakaku.com, and SBI
E*Trade, Schaede explains how the fundamental principles of Japan's
economy have been overturned. "Choose and focus" strategies,
whereby corporations concentrate on core areas and spin off
unrelated businesses, have completely altered the strategic logic
of Japan's previous industrial architecture. These surprisingly
aggressive moves, Schaede finds, have created new market
opportunities for start-up enterprises and foreign investors, as
well as a wave of mergers, acquisitions, and hostile takeovers that
have shaken Japanese companies out of complacency.
Unlike the advances made by Japanese firms in the 1970s and
1980s, the current transformation is taking root in component and
materials industries rather than in consumer products. Because of
the relative obscurity of the changes and the overshadowing story
of China's ascent, the Japanese corporate revolution has gone
largely unnoticed among Western observers. Choose and Focus is
required reading for anyone doing business in Japan or trying to
understand how contemporary Japanese business works and how
Japanese corporations have reinvented themselves to face the
challenges and realize the opportunities of the 21st century."
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