ABSTRACT
Japanese management practices have received considerable attention and notoriety over the past 15 years as Westerners have searched for an understanding of Japan's meteoric economic success. As Japan's foreign direct investment has accelerated in the last few years, attention has shifted from what the Japanese are doing at home to what they are doing overseas. In spite of this, however, relatively little empirical research has actually been conducted on the management of foreign affiliates of Japanese firms.
This chapter reports the results of an exploratory study examining the characteristics of human resource management (HRM) practices and policies in 49 Japanese manufacturing and service affiliates located in the USA. It describes the policies and practices of personnel selection, compensation, appraisal and development in terms of three archetypal strategies for managing human resources. Also examined is the extent to which policies and practices conform to predications for the three HRM strategy types, as well as the degree of consistency found between stated organizational policies and actual practice.
