This volume merges four streams of inquiry and interpretation in a study of the evolution and emergence of Japan's leading industrial firms during the twentieth century. First, it is a historical study of how the industrial institutions of modern Japan appeared and matured. Second, it is an organization study of the basic forms of social and economic interaction in Japan. Third, it is a development study of how circumstances of rapid technical and economic change have shaped the Japanese business system. It is also a strategy study of how Japanese managers have responded to and shaped these circumstances. This fourfold synthesis offers a model of institutional development under conditions of late economic development and private initiative that falls somewhere between a capitalist development state and a free market economy. Business policy rather than industrial policy is accentuated, revealing a set of robust institutions and a dynamic to activate and interrelate them.

W. Mark Fruin's profile page

W. Mark Fruin, Hong Kong Bank of Canada Professor of Asian Research and Director, Institute of Asian Research and Policy Studies, University of British Columbia.

'will set the stage for the discussion of the Japanese business system and of the structures and strategies of its enterprises for many years to come' Alfred Chandler, Straus Professor of Business History, Emeritus, Harvard Business School

'packed with illumination. A worthy achievement.' LSE Magazine

'His achievement leaves one breathless with admiration at the depth of his scholarship both in Japanese business history and social science methodology.' Business History

'The author uses his knowledge of business history and provides unique insights to come up with daring hypotheses about what the essential characteristics of the system are, how they have been shaped, and what the fundamental difference is between the Japanese enterprise system and that of other Western countries ... Perhaps one of the greatest merits of this book is that, as one reads on, it stimulates one's intellectual curiosity about the workings of the Japanese enterprise system.' Journal of the Japanese and International Economies

'Professor Fruin's account should be studied closely by educators, consultants, and all those others who might have influence.' Anglo Japanese Journal

'His achievement leaves one breathless with admiration at the depth of his scholarship both in Japanese business history and social science methodology. Historians ... will rightly adopt Fruin as their Japanese bible.' Leslie Hannah, London School of Economics, Business Hisotry, January 1994

'This is the best book on Japanese industrial structure in any language.' Chalmers Johnson

'Fruin's account should be studied closely by educators, consultants, and all those others who might have influence.' Anglo-Japanese Journal

'His achievement leaves one breathless with admiration at the depth of his scholarship both in Japanese business history and social science methodology. Historians ... will rightly adopt Fruin as their Japanese bible.' Leslie Hannah, London School of Economics, Business History, January 1994