The tremendous economic success enjoyed by Japan and its companies in global markets during the 1970s and 1980s led to a flood of research and analysis regarding Japanese management systems, including comparisons with the methods used in the US and Europe and prescriptions from commentators as to how Japanese management practices might be transferred to firms in the US in order to boost their performance. The work conducted in this area corresponded with an explosion of global economic activity and it was often argued that international competitiveness could be directly tied to the managerial styles and systems. At the same time, the study of culture began to play a more important role as researcher explored how societal cultures influenced the way that managers coordinated activities in their organizations. This report provides a brief introduction to some of the work that has been conducted on Japanese management systems. Beginning with this post, we are shifting to a new monthly publication schedule that will transition to a newsletter format, although special posts will still be made as necessary for development that we believe merit the immediate attention of our visitors.
