The changing nature of management and culture in Japan

In the post-war period, Japanese manufacturing companies significantly increased their share of the global market of automobiles (Womack et al., 1991) as well as achieving more than 50 per cent of the world market in cameras, video-recorders, watches, calculators, microwave ovens, motorcycles and colour televisions (Oliver and Wilkinson, 1992, p. 5). Much of this success was seen as being due to the ‘unique’ form of management to be found in Japanese companies, although the industrial structure and the commitment of Japanese workers were also seen as important (Abegglen and Stalk, 1987; Clark, 1987; Dore, 1990; Tachibanaki and Noda, 2000).