Choose and Focus: Japanese Business Strategies for the 21st Century

New
Hardcover
2008
$52.25

Between 2002 and 2008, Japan's economy saw constant expansion, a record among the world's advanced economies and Japan's longest period of economic growth since World War II. This remarkable achievement came about because of a transformation of Japanese business practices. This transformation was guided by strategies that enabled Japan's leading corporations, previously diversified to an exceptionally high degree, to become leaner, more nimble, and more competitive at home and in the global economy.

In Choose and Focus, the first in-depth account of this strategic inflection point in Japanese business, Ulrike Schaede argues that the emerging practices and attitudes have created a New Japan. Drawing on profiles of several corporations, including Panasonic, Takeda and Astellas, Softbank, kakaku.com, and SBI E*Trade, Schaede explains how the fundamental principles of Japan's economy have been overturned. Choose and focus strategies, whereby corporations concentrate on core areas and spin off unrelated businesses, have completely altered the strategic logic of Japan's previous industrial architecture. These surprisingly aggressive moves, Schaede finds, have created new market opportunities for start-up enterprises and foreign investors, as well as a wave of mergers, acquisitions, and hostile takeovers that have shaken Japanese companies out of complacency.

Unlike the advances made by Japanese firms in the 1970s and 1980s, the current transformation is taking root in component and materials industries rather than in consumer products. Because of the relative obscurity of the changes and the overshadowing story of China's ascent, the Japanese corporate revolution has gone largely unnoticed among Western observers. Choose and Focus is required reading for anyone doing business in Japan or trying to understand how contemporary Japanese business works and how Japanese corporations have reinvented themselves to face the challenges-and realize the opportunities-of the 21st century.

Synopsis

Between 2002 and 2008, Japan's economy saw constant expansion, a record among the world's advanced economies and Japan's longest period of economic growth since World War II. This remarkable achievement came about because of a transformation of Japanese business practices. This transformation was guided by strategies that enabled Japan's leading corporations, previously diversified to an exceptionally high degree, to become leaner, more nimble, and more competitive at home and in the global economy.

In Choose and Focus, the first in-depth account of this strategic inflection point in Japanese business, Ulrike Schaede argues that the emerging practices and attitudes have created a New Japan. Drawing on profiles of several corporations, including Panasonic, Takeda and Astellas, Softbank, kakaku.com, and SBI E*Trade, Schaede explains how the fundamental principles of Japan's economy have been overturned. Choose and focus strategies, whereby corporations concentrate on core areas and spin off unrelated businesses, have completely altered the strategic logic of Japan's previous industrial architecture. These surprisingly aggressive moves, Schaede finds, have created new market opportunities for start-up enterprises and foreign investors, as well as a wave of mergers, acquisitions, and hostile takeovers that have shaken Japanese companies out of complacency.

Unlike the advances made by Japanese firms in the 1970s and 1980s, the current transformation is taking root in component and materials industries rather than in consumer products. Because of the relative obscurity of the changes and the overshadowing story of China's ascent, the Japanese corporate revolution has gone largely unnoticed among Western observers. Choose and Focus is required reading for anyone doing business in Japan or trying to understand how contemporary Japanese business works and how Japanese corporations have reinvented themselves to face the challenges-and realize the opportunities-of the 21st century.

$52.25

Quantity

20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: Oct 2008
ISBN 10: 0801447062
ISBN 13: 9780801447068

Media Reviews

Are the traditional Japanese business models and management approaches that proved so successful in the 1970s and 1980s changing? Schaede says yes, as evidenced by Japan's economic upswing between 2002 and (mid) 2008. Using her knowledge of Japanese language and culture to better understand contemporary Japanese business, she successfully argues that a new business strategy is being used by large and small firms, and particularly by firms rooted in component and materials industries. . . . Schaede analyzes and explains new models of mergers/acquisitions/takeovers, reorganizations, and restructuring, which are often driven by competition both within and outside Japan, and the use of venture capital and start-ups. This easy-to-read book is valuable for anyone doing business in and with Japan or wanting to learn about business practices there. Highly recommended. -J. W. Leonard, Choice, March 2009

Choose and Focus provides a sound review of Japanese postwar development and is a good background for . . . Japan's development over the last decade. . . . This is a well-written and very interesting book, and we would definitely agree with Schaede that parts of the New Japan are emerging, and the 'choose and focus' strategy is one of the most critical for Japanese corporations in the twenty-first century -Seiichiro Yoekura, Japanese Journal of Political Science, December 2010

Japan is back. While China or India have been grabbing headlines, Japan Inc. has quietly revolutionized its way of doing business. As the world struggles to pull out of the post-subprime recession, Japan is poised to come out a winner. A fierce and focused competitor has emerged. This book offers the best insight into what drives Japan's newfound strength. Ignore it and you may find yourself losing out to the new Japan powerhouse. -Jesper Koll, President of Tantallon Research Japan
Choose and Focus is a terrific book. Ulrike Schaede argues that the Japanese economy has changed profoundly since 1998: companies have broken free of the old model and become profit-driven. She warns that people in other countries ignore Japan's new nimbleness, efficiency, and innovation at their peril. The book brilliantly combines an economy-wide survey of how government regulation has become more market-oriented with illustrations of the nitty-gritty of changing business practices in key sectors. Schaede is a real storyteller, and her descriptions of the transformation of industries ranging from chemicals to finance are lively and gripping. -Mark Tilton, Purdue University
In Choose and Focus, Ulrike Schaede's Japanese-language skills, rich network of contacts in Japan, and long experience are all put to good use. She brings together a rich mix of data to develop a convincing and original argument that Japan (at last) is making the changes that will allow it to be a formidable force in the new global economy. -Leonard H. Lynn, Case Western Reserve University