A Pioneer Of Management Research And Education In Japan

The purpose of this book is to clarify the mission and history of Kobe University Business School (KUBS), not only for the development of management education but also for the familiarization of industry in Japan with the ideas of modern management. Kobe University was the first in Japan to establish a faculty of business administration and has continued to conduct research and education in the field to this day. Under the influence of Germany and the USA, the academic area of management in Japan has achieved unique development not witnessed in other countries. Since 1902, when its predecessor, Kobe Higher Commercial School, was established, KUBS has been a pioneer of research and education in management studies in Japan by overcoming many obstacles and difficulties. Even now in the age of globalization, the spirit of innovation and liberal academic style, from the time of its establishment, are inherent in KUBS, and the faculty members have made great efforts to be innovative in management studies. This book aims to explore the mission and history of KUBS and to elucidate the development process of Japanese-style management research and education by introducing the diverse areas of management studies and the profiles of researchers.

The changing nature of education and training systems in Japanese firms is reviewed with focus on developments of management education in Japanese universities. Based on a contextual model, this book examines whether the MBA education system in the Japanese business schools is useful for human resource development in Japanese firms and discusses the importance of developments of Japanese-specific methods of management education. New research topics: few studies focussing on Japanese management education Systematic and critical review of the up-to-date literature on management education Empirical evidence: interview data collected both from HR directors/managers and from employees who belongs to an MBA course

Globally two processes are striking about modern management education. Firstly, management education is changing rapidly to meet new challenges from business and governments and to improve competitiveness. Secondly, management education has become one of the fastest growing areas in higher education. Management Education and Competitiveness provides a wide overview, including studies by scholars in nine countries in Europe, Japan and the United States. It examines how countries have developed different national courses in spite of strong influence from the American system of management education. It also examines the links between education and business. This collection of essays will be invaluable to managers and professionals in educational research and business administration.

This book shows how the Japanese first learnt their industrial and technological skills from the West, and in particular from Britain, in the 1870's. It challenges the popular conception that Japan is culturally so different from the West that there are limited lessons to learn from Japan's stunning industrial success.

This book provides a new understanding of the constellations of logics in Japanese management practices in Asia and the West. Through comparative ethnographic case studies in a Japanese multinational corporation (MNC), the book explores the cultural meanings of family, corporation, market and religion logics at each subsidiary’s site in Thailand, Taiwan, Belgium and the United States. In doing so, the book defines cultural space through an institutional logic approach. It argues that logics are culturally interpreted, which can impose a serious limitation on the institutional logic approach based on the analysis of Western society. It reveals that Japanese ‘family’ logics and Theravada Buddhism in Asia are strengthening each other and this directly supports the presupposition of amplification. It further elaborates on the ongoing constellations of logics that are continuously formed in relation to geographical contexts. The book also explains that the boundaries of organisational communities are not automatically formed by Japanese expatriates but constructed through actors’ profiles, which, in turn, raises their importance. Therefore, this book is a must-read for researchers, managers and anyone interested in Japanese MNCs.

Japanese Management in Evolution illustrates the significant changes that have been taking place in Japanese business by focusing on "emerging industries" in the relatively neglected service and "creative" sectors as well as other key industries, and to put those changes in historical perspective by providing an overview of business development since World War II. By employing state-of-the-art research techniques and unconventional innovative approaches in analysing Japanese management – including network and discourse analysis, ethnographic explorations, and more – the book reveals historical developments and in-depth analyses of established and emerging composition of sectors and industries where cultural capital matters. Throughout the book, the common theme conveyed to readers is a consistently strong message that the change is ongoing and the evolution of management style is real in the Japanese context. The book would be of great interest to researchers, academics and practitioners in fields of global management, international management, and Asian capitalism.

'Innovation and Change in Japanese Management' shows which transformation processes and changes can be observed in Japanese companies in reaction to the economic challenges of the past decade. The book presents new research results and investigates the variety of changes that Japanese corporations and managers have experienced in recent years.

Engineers are a key occupational group in the transformation of the modern world. Contrasts between Japans economic miracle and Britains relative economic decline have often been linked to differences in education, training and employment of engineers. Yet, such views have often rested on little more than colourful anecdotes and selective statistics. Using careful and systematic comparisons, Kevin McCormick locates the differences between rhetoric and reality to dismiss both the inflated claims of the 1980s and the excessive detraction of the 1990s with Japans prolonged recession.