ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION The subject of Japanese organizational practices has spawned great debate regarding their transferability to the West. One strand of the argument in this debate claims that Japanese methods have a universal applicability, whilst another strand has questioned the desirability or social acceptability of these new organizational techniques. This chapter, in contrast, is founded upon the perspective that certain features of the social organization of developing countries hinder the wholesale adoption of these techniques. In this chapter, I will draw on field research on the Brazilian autocomponents industry to discuss the pattern and extent of the adoption of quality control (QC) programmes, quality control circles (QCCs) and just-in-time (JIT) among firms within this sector of the Brazilian economy. This will involve an analysis of the extent to which these new manufacturing practices are being adopted and the forms they take in this setting, the sorts of obstacles which hinder or discourage adoption, and the benefits and problems which result.
