The Japanese Firm by Masahiko Aoki

The Japanese Firm by Masahiko Aoki

Masahiko Aoki and Ronald Dore have edited an authoritative account of the Japanese firm and the sources of its success, including contributions from some of the best, and best known, scholars in the field. The book represents an attempt to explain and understand aspects of the firm in the Japanese economic system, and to explain the corporate success of Japan. It is interdisciplinary in approach, containing both theoretical and empirical work, and has contributions from the fields of labour economics, comparative institutional analysis, information economics, finance, organizational theory, economic history, political science, and sociology. Chapters range from contemporary descriptions--of training (in overseas subsidiaries as well as Japan), of RandD structures, of product development practices, of finance and corporate governance, of trading relations, especially between small and large firms--to an historical overview of the evolution of Japanese management in the wartime planned economy. The book also situates Japan in the literature of economic analysis and in the on-going debate about trade-offs between equality and efficiency. The contemporary media would have us believe that the Japanese system of management--characterized by lifetime employment, emphasis on long-term, slow consensual decision-making, heavy investments in training, RandD, and quality, close inter-enterprise ties, and short rations for shareholders--is in crisis and about to change fundamentally. This book will enable the reader to decide just how solid the foundations of the Japanese enterprise system are, and to identify the rationale that lies behind it.

This is an excellent collection of papers for which the authors, the editors and the conference organizers should be congratulatedI found valuable insights in almost every chapter, and the whole was even better than the sum of its parts. One point that was brought out by a number of authors was what the editors referred to in their introduction as `systemic awareness' - that specific attributes of the Japanese firm should not be considered in isolation, as they are all interrelated elements of a broader system. This book brings together many of these elements, and provides the reader with that vital systemic awareness. * Asia Pacific Business Review *
Many of the papers reflect the use of the new institutional economies to explain the nature of the Japanese firm and the sources of its competitive strength. They also display a laudable attempt to show the dependency between institutions, something which is important, but difficult, to do ... The papers are not only theoretical and empirical studies of the Japanese case, they also often contain a comparative aspect ... the account of the Japanese firm under the wartime planned economy given by Tetsuji Okazaki is fascinating ... higly informative and expertly combines modern approaches to the theory of the firm with empirical studies of a diverse range. I recommend this volume for those interested in the firm, the Japanese firm, and the skilful application of theories of the firm. The papers will undoubtedly enhance people's knowledge of the Japanese economy, but also stimulate new avenues of enquiry. * Japan Forum *
This is an excellent collection of papers for which the authors, the editors and the conference organizers should be congratulated. I found valuable insights in almost every chapter, and the whole was even better than the sum of its parts. * Asia Pacific Business Review *
'all of the essays are to be highly recommended.' * Business History *
Fourteen useful papers that attempt to improve our understanding of the role of the firm in the Japanese economic system, as well as explain the corporate success of Japan. I hoipe we will not be required to wait too long for a similar volume that examines the traumas of the past five years. - Long Range Planning. April 1998.

Masahiko Aoki was the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Professor Emeritus of Japanese Studies in the Department of Economics, and a senior fellow of the Stanford Institute of Economic Policy Research and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University.

Aoki was a theoretical and applied economist with a strong interest in institutional and comparative issues. He specialized in the theory of institutions, corporate architecture and governance, and the Japanese and Chinese economies.

His most recent book, Corporations in Evolving Diversity: Cognition, Governance, and Institutions, based on his 2008 Clarendon Lectures, was published in 2010 by Oxford University Press. It identifies a variety of corporate architecture as diverse associational cognitive systems, and discusses their implications to corporate governance, as well their modes of interactions with society, polity, and financial markets within a unified game-theoretic perspective. His previous book, Toward a Comparative Institutional Analysis, was published in 2001 by MIT Press. This work developed a conceptual and analytical framework for integrating comparative studies of institutions in economics and other social science disciplines using game-theoretic language. Aoki's research has been also published in the leading journals in economics, including the American Economic Review, Econometrica, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Economic Studies, the Journal of Economic Literature, Industrial and Corporate Change, and the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organizations.

Aoki was the president of the International Economic Association from 2008 to 2011, and is also a former president of the Japanese Economic Association. He is a fellow of the Econometric Society and the founding editor of the Journal of Japanese and International Economies. He was awarded the Japan Academy Prize in 1990, and the sixth International Schumpeter Prize in 1998. Between 2001 and 2004, Aoki served as the president and chief research officer of the Research Institute of Economy, Trade, and Industry, an independent administrative institution specializing in public policy research in Japan.

Aoki graduated from the University of Tokyo with a B.A. and an M.A. in economics, and earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Minnesota in 1967. He was formerly an assistant professor at Stanford University and Harvard University and served as both an associate and full professor at the University of Kyoto before rejoining the Stanford faculty in 1984.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780198292159
ISBN 10	0198292155
Title	The Japanese Firm
Author	Masahiko Aoki
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	1996-09-05
Number of pages	424
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable