ABSTRACT
Many observers of Japanese business have attributed Japan’s post-War economic miracle to the country’s success in achieving the world’s highest productivity through the effective human resource management (HRM). Japanese HRM is firmly based on the peopleoriented philosophy which believes that people are the most important of all organizational resources. This philosophy is well reflected in the community-oriented ideology adopted by Japanese companies, which stresses total concern for people. The company thus concerns itself with the private life of its employees as well as their performance at work. Such a philosophy underpins Japanese corporate culture, and it undoubtedly influences the practices of management. Can Japanese-style management, which incorporates the culture with the practices, be successfully transferred abroad? In this final chapter, the question of transferability will be addressed first by examining views held by Japanese managers, who are stationed in East Asia, and their actions as observed in the actual employment of the features of Japanese-style management. Relationships between management practices, management effectiveness, and enterprise effectiveness will then be re-examined to determine what we can really learn from the Japanese.
