ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a comparative analysis of the organisation of design in French companies and Japanese companies which are direct suppliers to automobile producers. Communication between producers and components suppliers, and between components suppliers and their own suppliers and sub-contractors, becomes a fundamental dimension. The chapter describes the characteristics of the new organisational principles of design, noting how the significant issues are contextualised in the several national environments under study. It explores the points of convergence between the French case, characterised by Taylorism/Fordism, and the Japanese case, marked by Toyotaism. The French companies, based as they are on institutions dominated by Taylorism, must embark upon a period of institutional learning in order to create co-operation. Concurrent engineering requires greater co-ordination of activities, based on overall co-operation at formal and informal levels, among all the actors, who are required to interact continuously.
