Article Abstract:
This article deals with the role of purchase-supply relations in organizational learning and knowledge-creation in Japan and how such relations are currently undergoing change. Drawing on interviews with managers, it presents case studies of the customer-supplier partnerships of three prominent Japanese manufacturing firms: Hitachi, Matsushita, and Toyota. The Hitachi case illustrates in a somewhat novel way the prevailing paradigm of how long-term, high-trust supply relations in Japan enhance organizational knowledge creation, learning, and innovation. The Toyota and Matsushita cases demonstrate that the dynamics of learning are behind two very different kinds of change in keiretsu supply networks. Toyota's evolving relationship with long-term partner, Denso Corporation, appears to fit the popular view that globalization and technological change are eroding Japanese keiretsu ties. The Matsushita case, by contrast, demonstrates that these same forces of change in other industrial settings may in fact be strengthening keiretsu-style partnerships. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Article Abstract:
Japan's Sony Corp. plans to reinvent itself through new technology introductions and management changes. These new technology developments take the company into areas it has not been before. Sony just introduced a computer chip for its next-generation Playstation home video game system, scheduled for introduction before March 2000. Its ultra-slim Vaio laptop computers are receiving very favorable reviews. Nobuyuki Idei, Sony's president, believes the investment in these new technologies will be worth the loss in earnings the company will probably suffer through for a while. The stock market seems to agree, as Sony's shares gained almost nine percent in Japan on these announcements. The company also plans to make structural changes and to reduce its staff by ten percent over the next three years.
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Article Abstract:
Samsung leapfrogged from a mere discrete device producer to the most vibrant and largest memory chip producer in the world. It managed effectively the two antecedents of technological learning: prior knowledge base and the intensity of efforts. Samsung used technology licensing and the recruitment of high calibre scientists and engineers in building its prior knowledge base and crisis construction as a strategic means for increasing the intensity of its efforts. Samsung also used internal competition and cooperation to accelerate technological learning. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic: