Transferring Japanese Management Practices in Asia and the West

Abstract

This chapter aims to identify and investigate the transferability of Japanese management practices in Asia and the West. Through a review of existing literature regarding Japanese management practices in Asia and the West, it attempts to identity and further explain how Japanese management practices can be (non-)transferrable into different national contexts. In the past, work on Japanese management practices had mainly focused on their cost-effectiveness in the Western countries. In and after the 2000s, however, this focus on the Western contexts has been gradually shifting to Asia institutionally (i.e., local labour market and regulations) while becoming culturally closer to Japan (i.e., in terms of national culture, such as collectivism and hierarchy). This chapter therefore tries to establish whether or not Japanese management practices can be (non-)transferrable into Asian contexts; if so, why so? If not, why not?