Strategic Networks: The Art of Japanese Interfirm Cooperation [Hardcover]

Erdener Kaynak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0789007258 | ISBN-13: 978-0789007254

With Strategic Networks: The Art of Japanese Interfirm Cooperation, you will examine the structure and dynamics of Japanese business networks and discover successful Japanese business practices and opportunities. For professors of business and Japanese studies, as well as managers of firms throughout the world, this book analyzes new and innovative networks through case examples from the Japanese automobile, chemical, and electronics industries. Strategic Networks offers you insight into the management of these company partnerships and how they work to increase the competitiveness of businesses and allow firms within the network to share important knowledge.

Unknown to many, several of the management concepts that made Japanese companies successful in the 1980s, such as total quality control (TQC) and continuing improvement processes (CIP), were only a part of the formula for a successful business. This book discusses types of Japanese strategic networks, another element of Japan’s thriving business structure of today, how they are influenced by Japanese cultural values and state interventions, and why all of the businesses involved are benefiting from these networks.

Evaluating the theoretical foundation of these business relationships and intercompany cooperation, Strategic Networks offers you up-to-date information on the structures of Japanese firms by:

• examining Karl Popper’s ideas on critical rationalism and how Japanese companies follow his theories of problem solving, questioning, and developing knowledge
• explaining the system, growth, and game theories in order to completely understand a network and all of its facets
• exploring the ability to work with and navigate strategic networks when they are managed without strict plans or with unforeseen circumstances
• recognizing how networks enable the activation of interpreneurs to develop future visions, innovations, and responsible leadership for the network
  
  Complete with illustrations to emphasize important points along with insight into networks in the twenty-first century, Strategic Networks offers information and research that will help you understand how Japanese networks operate and how Japanese firms are conducting business differently. As a result, you will learn how the changing values in Japanese society influence company structures and procedures and come to understand the unique workings and effective structures of strategic networks.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A very imaginative application of the art of doing onto the art of knowing. Superbly written. Reading this book is a pleasure. -- Parthasarathi Banerjee, National Institute of Science Technology and Developmental Studies (NISTADS), New Delhi, India

Provides empirical evidence documenting the extent of strategic networks in Japan... offers practical applications, and suggests implications for the future. -- Booklist

From the Publisher

Evaluating the theoretical foundation of these business relationships and intercompany cooperation, Strategic

Networks offers you up-to-date information on the structures of Japanese firms by:

•examining Karl Popper’s ideas on critical rationalism and how Japanese companies follow his theories of problem solving, questioning, and developing knowledge •explaining the system, growth, and game theories in order to completely understand a network and all of its facets •exploring the ability to work with and navigate strategic networks when they are managed without strict plans or with unforeseen circumstances •recognizing how networks enable the activation of interpreneurs to develop future visions, innovations, and responsible leadership for the network

Product Details

• Hardcover: 220 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (November 10, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789007258
• ISBN-13: 978-0789007254
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,016,074 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Knowledge creation within interorganizational networks, July 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Strategic Networks: The Art of Japanese Interfirm Cooperation (Hardcover)

The book is particularly strong in analyzing the attitudes of knowledge creation of Japanese firms. Still, the book is of greater use for academics than the general reader.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The book provides valuable insights into network dynamics, August 30, 1999

By 

Jens Laage-Hellman ([e-mail] (Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strategic Networks: The Art of Japanese Interfirm Cooperation (Hardcover)

This forthcoming book by Frank-Jurgen Richter deals with an important issue-commercial and technological cooperation among industrial firms within "strategic networks"-that should be of interest to numerous business scholars in such fields as industrial organization, technological innovation, marketing and purchasing, strategic management, and international business. Despite a fairly large number of network-oriented business studies published in recent years there is still a need for good network studies that contribute to increase our understanding of industrial development processes and, in particular, how companies can strengthen their competitiveness through interaction/networking with other firms.

The author has chosen the Japanese industrial setting as his study object. This was a good choice since there is much to be learnt from the Japanese way of networking. The fact that Japan during the 1990s has lost some of its previous competitive power does not decrease the relevance of studying Japan. By contrast, the Japanese networks are now in a transition stage, partly as a response to the economic recession, and this provides an excellent opportunity to investigate how strategic networks evolve. Thanks to its focus on the dynamic aspects of networks (rather than their structure), the book gives a valuable contribution to our knowledge of business networks.

The main strength of the book is that it in a unique way contributes to deepen our knowledge about business networking in general and Japanese networks in particular. A weakness of the book, in my opinion, is that it introduces so many different theoretical approaches and concepts. It makes it a little bit "heavy" to read. According to the author this is necessary in order to reach a satisfactory explanation of the structure and dynamics of strategic networks. This might be true, but I am not fully convinced that the use of all these theories was absolutely necessary in order for the author to make his point. Nonetheless, I strongly recommend the book to those readers who are interested in the topic

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book on how networks can merge into each other, September 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Strategic Networks: The Art of Japanese Interfirm Cooperation (Hardcover)

Pre-release review...

This book is exciting to read, coming as it does in the wake of the collapse of the Japanese bubble economy and the Asian monetary crisis. What looked to be invincible massive corporations now seem to be mere edifices once supported by nepotism and unsecured bank loans. Richter draws on his broad experience to take the reader easily through a mass of detail with well argued text - some arranged in a tidy academic fashion being well referenced, and some clearly derived from personal knowledge. All in all it builds up to an impressive document, which, far from boring the reader continues to offer insights in the operations of the Japanese firm - such as their willingness to de-staff and indeed de-skill at the shop floor level by using more and more robots for repetitive tasks; but where intelligence is needed, they maintain a surplus of personnel able to filter and channel an enormous volume of data. Organisational slack is seen to be placed where it can be effective, and this applies also to their use of networks exploited for the strategic benefit of the co-operating organisations.

Inevitably, in this day and age, Richter grapples with the development of Organisational Learning and the management of Knowledge Creation in the context of firms networking for their joint advantage. Herein he notes historical antecedents from the Edo and Mieji-times, but this is just to place certain modern case studies into a robust context, leading the reader into an understanding of the need for organisational boundaries to be permeable in order that synergies can take place. Thus he comes to the acknowledgement that the visions of senior management can act at once as goals, and also as the catalyst for individuals to unfold goal-oriented tasks - essentially these chief executives have to be both anarchists and organisers within a network setting where other like-minded persons co-operate trustingly.

Recommended!