Introduction

In December 1984 an international meeting of researchers, managers and scholars was held at the Free University, Berlin. The theme of this conference was 'The Transferability of Japanese Management' and the Proceedings were published as 'Transfer des japanischen Management systems'. The following December the same group met again, at the Policy Studies Institute, London, to report on and to discuss 'The Internationalisation of Japanese Business', of which the present volume is the result. The participants came almost equally from Japan, Continental Europe and the UK - a truly international forum. It was formally decided to adopt the title of Euro-Japanese Management Studies Association and to meet regularly at the end of each year at a selected location in Europe or Japan. It is particularly gratifying that the Association has attracted international support and that Japanese colleagues have expressed their enthusiasm for holding meetings in Japan. This Euro-Japanese link is very much what the Association is about.