ANALYSIS OF "JAPAN AT THE CROSSROADS"

The economic crisis described in this case is one of many that the Japanese have endured in their long history. The two authors, Saito and Yatsunami go to great pains and gather much data to describe the microeconomics of the nation, while, curiously avoiding the macroecomomic look.

They easily adopt the traditional Western media theory that Japan's companies are facing hard times and are being forced to throw away old concepts of organization and their traditional ideas of capitalism in favor of newer, more open business theories.

The press is quick to point out that this is the responsibility, somewhat, of the keiretsu, a strong cultural aspect of Japan that is for the most part completely ignored in this analysis. It is the contention of this paper that, as opposed to the author's contentions, that the "crossroads" presented by the authors is the result of a misinformed view of Japanese capitalism, which is different in nature and texture than the Western version of capitalism.

In fact, much of the case study is actually discussing keiretsu capitalism (and the results of this system) without accurately portraying the dynamics. Keiretsu, it is generally agreed, refers to a system of linked companies that have made Japan a great economic nation. But writing off these keiretsu as outdated or outmoded is the wrong approach, since there is a great deal of global competitive advantage to be gained by doing business within this s

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tionships(Banerji and Sambharya, 1996, 89). Software manufacturers, electronics manufacturers, home appliance manufacturers all coordinate their activities with competitors and trading partners in order to manage non-financial resource-flows. However, the majority of the literature available writes about the companies rather than the managers who make the keiretsu happen. Granted, in Japanese culture, losing face is to have too much attention brought to any one individual, but there are certain elements of the management style necessary for keiretsu-style business dealings that do not appear in other types of economies. Therefore, it is this shortcoming that this study will deal with. Based on the preponderance of scholarly literature concerning cost control in relationship to Japanese efficiency, one is not surprised to find cost control to rank high on a list of things Japanese keiretsu can teach the Western business world. "The second lesson Japan can still teach the West is more surprising. It is how to manage knowledge. This sounds strange, given that leadership knowledge-intensive industries, from software to entertainment, belongs to America," (In faint praise..., 1996, 54). If there is such a thing as a "keiret
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2380
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)