Revolution or Evolution: The Transformation of Japanese Personnel Practices

[Excerpt] Ever since Japan reemerged as an economic power from the ruins of the World War II, it is striking how the pace and magnitude of economic and social changes facing the country continue to increase. The rapid growth of the late 1960s, the successive of oil shocks, the revaluation of the yen, the changes in global competitive position in many industries, the spread of information technology, the aging of the society, the enlargement of the middle class and consequent increase in discretionary consumption, all these factors have had a major impact on the organizational culture and climate in Japanese firms

The Challenges of Globalization: The Strategic Role of Local Managers in Japanese-Owned U.S. Subsidiaries

[Excerpt] After spending billions of dollars moving manufacturing plants to all corners of the world, and endowing numerous programs in Japanology in the world\u27s best institutions of learning, Japanese companies have just uncovered a disconcerting truth: their competitors do not love them. Winning in global competition and being popular are clearly two different things

Human Resources in the Future: An Obstacle or a Champion of Globalization?

[Excerpt] There seems to be a wide ranging agreement among HR scholars and practitioners alike that HR in the Future will be increasingly global. Virtually no firms, large or small, irrespective of industries, are today shielded from the impact of globalization. Competitive threats and, in particular, opportunities are more and more global. The ever expanding scope of global competition is forcing a continuous reexamination of how Human Resources can best support the rapid pace of business globalization

On a problem of thermo-viscoelasticity

Analysis of viscoelastic materials under transient thermal conditions related to solid rocket propellant

Decision making localization and decentralization in Japanese MNCs: Are there costs of leaving local managers out of the loop?

This paper reports results on decision making decentralization and localization in a study of 119 Japanese affiliates located in Europe and the U.S. The data indicate that decisions are generally decentralized. However, they also show that Japanese managers are involved in 80% of all decisions, and many decisions are made without any involvement by local managers. Our data also indicate, however, that there are few significant relationships between decision making decentralization or localization and affiliate performance. Implications of the results are discussed

What we talk about when we talk about "global mindset": managerial cognition in multinational corporations

Recent developments in the global economy and in multinational corporations have placed significant emphasis on the cognitive orientations of managers, giving rise to a number of concepts such as “global mindset” that are presumed to be associated with the effective management of multinational corporations (MNCs). This paper reviews the literature on global mindset and clarifies some of the conceptual confusion surrounding the construct. We identify common themes across writers, suggesting that the majority of studies fall into one of three research perspectives: cultural, strategic, and multidimensional. We also identify two constructs from the social sciences that underlie the perspectives found in the literature: cosmopolitanism and cognitive complexity and use these two constructs to develop an integrative theoretical framework of global mindset. We then provide a critical assessment of the field of global mindset and suggest directions for future theoretical and empirical research

Strategic alliances with the Japanese : the role of organizational learning

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/35988/2/b1410416.0001.001.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/35988/1/b1410416.0001.001.tx