Commentary

Abstract

Many experts have tried to explain Japan’s post-war economic growth by highlighting, amongst the various traits which have enhanced the competitiveness of Japanese industry, the essential role played by the specific supplying relationships. All of the interpretative grids being used (Toyota Production System, Ohnoism, Toyotism, Lean Production, etc.) emphasize the organization of sub-contracting, as an ‘ideal-type’ and a benchmark. This organization is often stylized in the form of a hierarchical pyramid with different levels (tiers-ranking). At the summit of the pyramid, the primary client maintains a direct relationship only with a limited number of first rank suppliers. These durable relationships are based on trust, and the suppliers are encouraged to improve their productive efficiency (productivity, quality, innovation) by increased coordination through a learning process—supplier clubs, sharing of productivity gains, the mutual exchange of engineers, joint product development, etc. Each level of the hierarchy tends to reproduce a weaker form of this type of relationship with the following, lower levels. These supplying relationships have been closely analysed and sometimes even translated into rules of management. Managers in North American and European companies have been trying to apply these methods so as to fully restructure their sourcing systems, adapting them all the while to local conditions.