Making Common Sense of Japan (Pitt Series in Policy and Institutional Studies)
During the 1980s, there was a tendency to elevate the Japanese economy and managerial style to role model status in works like Richard Pascale's The Art of Japanese Management ( LJ 8/81) and William Ouchi's Theory Z ( LJ 5/1/81). During the 1990s, Japanese "bashing" became the fashion, perhaps best represented by Michael Crichton's fictional Rising Sun (Knopf, 1992). Reed's book represents a much-needed middle ground. Using the methods of comparative political systems, the author carefuly develops the theme of "culture as common sense." Citing Japanese practices like business-government cooperation and "permanent employment" as examples, Reed contends that the Japanese economic model is neither as inscrutable nor as replicable as many have postulated. He concludes that the Japanese have very likely developed, partly due to pure external circumstance, a relatively more efficient form of capitalism than that practiced in the United States. Recommended especially for international economic collections.- Gene R. Laczniak, Marquette Univ., MilwaukeeCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.