'Innovation and Change in Japanese Management' shows which transformation processes and changes can be observed in Japanese companies in reaction to the economic challenges of the past decade. The book presents new research results and investigates the variety of changes that Japanese corporations and managers have experienced in recent years.

'Innovation and Change in Japanese Management' shows which transformation processes and changes can be observed in Japanese companies in reaction to the economic challenges of the past decade. The book presents new research results and investigates the variety of changes that Japanese corporations and managers have experienced in recent years.

Traditionally, innovation has been considered difficult to manage, as it occurs through contingent discoveries and inventions. For effective innovation management, it is necessary to determine what provides new value to customers and achieve this new value efficiently, while solving the technical problems. This book explores how innovation management for industrial revitalization and activation are conducted in Japanese companies. 'Innovation' has diverse definitions, but the editors of this book have adopted the one proposed by J A Schumpeter. The features of innovation management in Japanese companies are considered systematically in the book. Positive analyses using questionnaires and innovation management strategy in individual industries and companies is also explored in detail.

After two decades of reinvention, Japanese companies are re-emerging as major players in the new digital economy. They have responded to the rise of China and new global competition by moving upstream into critical deep-tech inputs and advanced materials and components. This new "aggregate niche strategy" has made Japan the technology anchor for many global supply chains. Although the end products do not carry a "Japan Inside" label, Japan plays a pivotal role in our everyday lives across many critical industries. This book is an in-depth exploration of current Japanese business strategies that make Japan the world's third-largest economy and an economic leader in Asia. To accomplish their reinvention, Japan's largest companies are building new processes of breakthrough innovation. Central to this book is how they are addressing the necessary changes in organizational design, internal management processes, employment, and corporate governance. Because Japan values social stability and economic equality, this reinvention is happening slowly and methodically, and has gone largely unnoticed by Western observers. Yet, Japan's more balanced model of "caring capitalism" is both competitive and transformative, and more socially responsible than the unbridled growth approach of the United States.

In this new book, Hara, Kambayashi and Matsushima gather together a collection of case studies of innovation in various industries in modern Japan, including automobile, electronics, semiconductor, component, chemical, pharmaceutical and service industries. Unlike other books in this area, this book focuses on a broader range of Japanese indus

Discusses Japanese manufacturing, business diversification, research and development, product development, innovation, societal diffusion, and option sharing