Multinational Companies from Japan

Capabilities, Competitiveness, and Challenges

Robert Fitzgerald, Chris Rowley

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781317368410
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Since the bursting of Japan's bubble economy, from 1990 onwards, its multinational companies (MNCs) have faced new competitive challenges, and questions about the management practices on which they had built their initial success in global markets.

Japanese engagement in the international economy has undergone a number of phases. Historically, Japanese MNCs learnt from foreign companies, frequently through strategic alliances. After the post-war 'economic miracle', Japanese manufacturers in particular converted themselves into MNCs, transferred their home-grown capabilities to overseas subsidiaries, and made an impact on the world economy. But the period after 1990 marked declining Japanese competitiveness, and asked questions about the ability of Japanese MNCs to be more responsive and global in their strategies, organization, and capabilities. It has been argued that the established management practices of Japanese MNCs inhibited adaptation to recent demands of global competition.

This volume presents new case evidence on how Japanese MNCs have responded to the new challenges of the global market place, and it provides examples of how they have transformed strategies and competitive capabilities. This book was originally published as a special issue of Asia Pacific Business Review.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• 1. Japanese multinationals in the post-bubble era: new challenges and evolving capabilities
• 2. Global value chains and the lost competitiveness of the Japanese watch industry: an applied business history of Seiko since 1990
• 3. Do Japanese electronics firms still follow traditional vertical integration strategies? Evidence from the liquid crystal display industry
• 4. Strategic capabilities and the emergence of the global factory: Omron in China
• 5. Boundary-crossing and the localization of capabilities in a Japanese multinational firm
• 6. Do Japanese MNCs use expatriates to contain risk in Asian host countries?
• 7. Cross-national distance and insidership within networks: Japanese MNCs' ownership strategies in their overseas subsidiaries
• 8. Cultural determinants of alliance management capability – an analysis of Japanese MNCs in India
• 9. How have Japanese multinational companies changed? Competitiveness, management and subsidiaries
• Index