ABSTRACT
There has been an enormous amount of interest and concern among social scientists as to the reasons behind Japan’s economic success and the high productivity of their industrial organizations. Much attention has been paid, especially, to Japanese business practices and their distinctive characteristics, such as the lifetime employment practice, the team based work organization and work process, and the organization of unions. In the broadest terms, these organizational features and industrial policies, along with the social, economic, political, and cultural context of Japan have frequently been considered to be at least partly responsible for their impressive levels of industrial performance (Abegglen 1973; Cole 1979; Dore 1973).
