ABSTRACT
Labour institutions and state labour policies are frequently referred to in the literature on the industrial success of Asia’s economic giants, Japan and South Korea. Normally, three aspects of the Japanese model have been given particular attention in the debate: a) strategically oriented industrial policy and state-business interaction; b) co-operative competition through private business interaction in horizontal networks; c) co-operation between labour and management through particular employment systems. The latter include such elements as life-time employment, the nenko wage system, the particular combination of permanent core workers and flexible contract workers, institutions for joint consultations and enterprise-based unionism. Similarly, the writings on South Korea’s rapid economic transformation refer to institutional factors conducive to shop floor productivity and product quality.2
