The Japan Syndrome:: Demystifying Japanese Management

Abstract

For the last few years Japan has been the rage of many scholars who, with little or no business experience in their own culture, let alone in Japan, have turned Japanese management into a panacea for the ills of Western management. These scholars, many of whom have either relied on Western analytical tools which tend to be culture bound or have simply exploited their own Japanese heritage, have not only done the West a disservice, but have also succeeded in doing an even greater disservice to the Japanese. It is ironic that these rosy pictures of Japanese management perfection have come at a time when many Japanese would like to scrap their authoritarian management system in favour of a more “democratic” one.

Citation

Smith, J.M. (1983), "The Japan Syndrome:: Demystifying Japanese Management", Management Decision, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 25-33. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb001319