To Search for a integrated Asian Management System

1998 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 10041067
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for international Scientific Research
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: Field Research
• Research Field: Business administration
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: CHO Du-Sop GSLD, Nagoya University, Assoc. Professor, 大学院・国際開発研究科, 助教授 (20262834)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): SAWAKI Shoko Siaga Univ. Assoc. Professor, 経済学部, 助教授 (40301824)
• Project Period (FY): 1998
• Keywords: Asian Management System / corporate culture / Japanese management system / transferability / Joint venture / Job satisfaction

Research Abstract

The aim of this research is to search for a integrated Asian Management System through the comparative analysis of corporate culture between Japanese subsidiaries and local companies in Asian region. Opposing opinions among Japanese expatriates and local staffs are observed about the transferability of the Japanese management system or Japanese way of thinking.
Local staffs generally have the inclination to think the Japanese system as a special one, hence it's transferability to foreign countries is very low. However, Japanese argue this opinion. They say that good performance of the Asian subsidiaries is indicative of the transferability of Japanese system. Which opinion is more plausible?. In my opinion, these two conflicting opinions can be classified two different levels, that is to say, principle level and institutional level. Although Japanese management system, such as production control method, wage-promotion system can be fully applicable to an Asian soil, Japanese way of thinking or keeping company are not welcomed to an Asian peoples.
We found three points through the survey. First issue is, among the many patterns of the internationalization process, fully-owned subsidaries showed higher transferability of Japanese management system than joint ventures, and job satisfactionof local labors is also high. Second issues is that peceptional gap between Japanese expatriates and local staffs occurred mainly in the field of decision making process and labor relationship. Third issue is the extent of implementation of QCC asctivities or suggestion system, which are thought management method indigenous Japan, is undoubtedly is low, but this phenomenon is caused not by cultural difference but the short business history.