ABSTRACT
In 1984 the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) attracted 12.6 per cent of the total Japanese investment in Europe. One fifth of the 1984 Japanese production sites are meanwhile located in the FRG. Before 1970, mainly general trading companies established subsidiaries. The different decision-making autonomy between subsidiaries of concern-bound and non-concern-bound headquarters can be explained like this: Concern-bound companies have developed techniques and instruments for controlling and coordinating the activities of various remote departments, subcontractors, and subsidiaries. This strategy will strongly rely on decentralised autonomous decision-making paired with tight control of the finance department. Japanese companies have mainly set up fully owned subsidiaries. Joint ventures are of minor importance. Concern-bound companies rely mainly on delegation of decision-making competence to the subsidiaries and to local management personnel. Control is kept mainly via finance -and investment-related decisions; the position of the respective section chief is normally held by a Japanese.
