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The Changing Japanese Multinational: Application, Adaptation and Learning in Car Manufacturing and Financial Services

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  • Richard Whitley
  • Glenn Morgan
  • William Kelly
  • Diana Sharpe

Abstract

ABSTRACT The combination of increasingly international operations, the continuing domestic recession, and the gradual opening of the Japanese economy to foreign investment might be expected to change many features of Japanese multinational companies. In particular, the level and mode of central control of overseas units, especially their reliance on expatriate managers, could change as firms become more willing to use foreign subsidiaries as sources of innovation and learning rather than as delivery pipelines for domestically designed and developed products. These changes are more likely in sectors dominated by non‐Japanese firms, such as international financial services. Interviews with managers of 14 Japanese manufacturing and financial service firms in the UK and Japan confirmed substantial differences in their internationalization patterns in the 1990s, both between and within sectors. Car manufacturers in particular invested major resources in transferring significant features of their domestic operations to UK units, usually with expatriate managers, and one was investing in developing an international cadre of managers. In the case of banks and other financial service companies, the continuing banking crisis in Japan and limited profitability of their European operations, had stimulated a variety of responses. While some had simply withdrawn from serving non‐Japanese clients, or withdrawn altogether from Europe, others were trying to develop new skills and approaches to compete effectively with established Anglo‐Saxon firms at the same time as refocusing on Japanese customers to improve profitability. However, the sharply contrasting labour market practices in London and Japan made it difficult for many banks to develop firm specific skills that would enable them to become competitive in markets currently dominated by western banks. This raises general questions about how multinational companies coordinate skills and careers across differently organized skill formation and control systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Whitley & Glenn Morgan & William Kelly & Diana Sharpe, 2003. "The Changing Japanese Multinational: Application, Adaptation and Learning in Car Manufacturing and Financial Services," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 643-672, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:40:y:2003:i:3:p:643-672
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-6486.00355
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Richard Whitley, 2002. "Developing innovative competences: the role of institutional frameworks," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 11(3), pages 497-528, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rana, Mohammad B. & Morgan, Glenn, 2019. "Twenty-five years of business systems research and lessons for international business studies," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 513-532.
    2. Soltani, Ebrahim & Wilkinson, Adrian, 2011. "The Razor's edge: Managing MNC affiliates in Iran," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 462-475, October.
    3. Ruth V. Aguilera & Valentina Marano & Ilir Haxhi, 2019. "International corporate governance: A review and opportunities for future research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(4), pages 457-498, June.
    4. Xiao Zhang & Luqun Xie & Jiatao Li & Li Cheng, 2022. "“Outside in”: Global demand heterogeneity and dynamic capabilities of multinational enterprises," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(4), pages 709-722, June.
    5. Hadjimarcou, John & Brouthers, Lance E. & McNicol, Jason P. & Michie, Donald E., 2013. "Maquiladoras in the 21st century: Six strategies for success," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 207-217.
    6. Jong Min Lee, 2022. "MNCs as dispersed structures of power: Performance and management implications of power distribution in the subsidiary portfolio," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(1), pages 126-155, February.
    7. Lee, Jong Min, 2019. "Intra- and inter-regional diversification, subsidiary value chain activities and expatriate utilization," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 1-1.
    8. Verdu-Jover, Antonio J. & Alos-Simo, Lirios & Gomez-Gras, Jose-Maria, 2018. "Adaptive culture and product/service innovation outcomes," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 330-340.
    9. Jos Gamble, 2010. "Transferring Organizational Practices and the Dynamics of Hybridization: Japanese Retail Multinationals in China," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 705-732, June.
    10. Sharpe, Diana Rosemary, 2006. "Shop floor practices under changing forms of managerial control: A comparative ethnographic study of micro-politics, control and resistance within a Japanese multinational," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 318-339, September.

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