Abstract
Corporations have taken significant roles in the globalization of economies. The most characteristic aspect of globalization is the way in which many companies are moving toward investing directly in overseas production bases as the principal axis of their global operations. This means a significant change in global strategies of many multinational corporations, a shift to actively constructing international production bases among nations from only internationalizing certain divisions or departments in order to cope with the increasing globalization pressures. The research I participated in Japan on the Japanese automobile industry by the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (JILPT) has revealed that changes in work and work organization of the industrial organization due to the pressures of increasing globalization and market competition are now evidenced more clearly in the area of research/development and the production engineering than in actual manufacturing processes in factories. The JILPT research has demonstrated companies’ increasing needs in the following two areas: (1) for centralized data management systems for setting up production lines in all manufacturing bases and (2) for common platforms and standardized production equipment and work processes, which facilitate more flexible communication among production centers around the world.
The English translation of the original paper (in Japanese) was made possible by a financial support from the 2010 Kaigaihasshin Shien Jigyō (2010 Foreign Languages Translation Support for Researchers) of Meiji University.
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Notes
- 1.
I examined issues of corporate culture in the study business organizations in two distinctive academic fields – Japanese labor studies and sociology/cultural anthropology – and explored possible intersections of the two methodological approaches (Sumi 2007).
- 2.
Recent examinations of globalization and corporate overseas activities in the field of management tend to emphasize the importance of integration and standardization among sales and production centers all around the world to maximize efficiencies of the corporation as a whole, for example, Bartlett and Ghoshal (2002) and Prahalad and Doz (1987). On the other hand, the importance of the localization of overseas production of Japanese corporation has already been pointed out long ago back in the 1980s. A more detailed research examining the actual process of localization can be found in the fields of cultural anthropology and sociology, for example, Nakamaki and Hioki (2007), Nakano and Wong (2005), and Sumi (1998).
- 3.
Many developing countries rely on this system even now. Factories in developed countries are automating most of the manufacturing process, with the exception of interiors, final assemblage, and final inspection; however, the existing state of affairs is that in the knockdown factories in developing countries, welding and painting of the car frame are all done manually by workers using welding guns and paint guns.
- 4.
Other than in the UK, the J Company manufactures mainly motorcycles in Europe. Compared to the production of four-wheeled cars, the manufacturing process for motorcycles is less automated.
- 5.
According to the Web edition of Honda Company History 50, Telling It On: 50 years of Challenges (Honda Giken Kōgyō Kabusikikaisha 1999: 132) and The Age of Craftsmanship by Uchihashi (2011), it was mentioned that securing supply chain networks was an extremely difficult task when establishing Honda Motors Belgium (pp. 183–199).
- 6.
According to the research by M. Y. Yoshino and Thomas Lifson, there are a wide variety and many ways of support and Japanese-style relationships developed by general trading companies to assist Japanese manufacturers in their foreign manufacturing activities (Yoshino and Lifson 1986).
- 7.
This was pointed out to me in an informal conversation with Mr. O, who participated in the National Museum of Ethnology’s Joint Research Meeting, entitled “Anthropology of Business Administration and Company Myths” (after retiring from M corporation and enrolling in the graduate school of N University).
- 8.
This means that although price of parts made by Japanese manufacturers used to be 15 % higher than those made by local manufacturers, Japanese manufacturers still bought Japanese-made products. At present, Japanese-made goods are 5 % dearer than locally sourced products, and there is a tendency to favor parts made by Nikkei suppliers.
- 9.
Martin Kenney and Richard Florida point out in their study regarding the advance of Japanese automobile manufacturers into the North American market that when a car manufacturer sets up a factory, suppliers of electrical parts, tires, radiators, and so on set up factories in the vicinity. In the mid-west and southern parts of America, there appeared a “Japanese automobile-manufacturing complex” (Kenney and Florida 1993: 126–131).
- 10.
- 11.
“Core technologies” are skills that encompass core competences of a company. When competing companies are compared, predominance in specific engineering skills (= technology) can be observed. In the case of J Company, there is a heavy reliance on the engine-related technology, in particular cylinder and piston parts, produced by Japanese suppliers.
- 12.
At present, one setup requires around 60–70 people to be sent to the host country. In the past, however, when the period for setting up equipment was longer, the total number of people sent abroad was around 120. Previously in overseas assignments, there was one group dispatched for the first half of the setting up process and one for the second half.
- 13.
Fujimoto and Clark (2009) argue that there are significant differences in the degree of integration among functional departments (i.e., starting from R&D, purchasing, production to distribution, and sales/marketing departments) in solving problems in the US, European, and Japanese automakers. The way communication among engineers is handed, for example, either unilaterally or bilaterally, demonstrates notable differences. Communications among Japanese engineers are more bilateral than the US counterparts (Fujimoto and Clark 2009: 247–291).
- 14.
Japanese culture often emphasizes the importance of changing one’s interaction style according to different social situations (ba) or contexts (bunmyaku), instead of being consistent with rules or principles. This is reflected in the Japanese business behavior or service, for example, where engineers or staff from a supplier company visits the site regardless of weekdays or weekends when any trouble happens in production equipment. However, I am not going to argue that Japanese automakers prefer Japanese suppliers simply because of these cultural characteristics since these cultural characteristics eventually contribute to enhance the economic performances (cost reduction) of a company.
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Sumi, A. (2016). Globalization and the Establishment of Manufacturing Bases Overseas: A Case Study of the “J Automobile Company”. In: Nakamaki, H., Hioki, K., Mitsui, I., Takeuchi, Y. (eds) Enterprise as an Instrument of Civilization. Translational Systems Sciences, vol 4. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54916-1_13
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