Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject Business economics - Personnel and Organisation, grade: 2.4 (B), University of Manchester (Manchester School of Management), 43 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: How and to what extend do labour systems in general, and wage-setting mechanisms in particular, differ amongst the three biggest economies of the world, namely Japan, Germany, and the United States? Does the trend towards increasing trade liberation lead to pressure to harmonise different wage-setting systems? If so, what is the evidence for convergence?1 What impact could this have on the future of the labour systems of the so-called less flexible countries?

The author traces the enduring diversity of corporate culture in Japan and the U.S. to national differences in economic history and social norms, and, paradoxically, to global competition itself.

Japanese firms are in the midst of the most protracted economic crisis in their post-war history. The end of the "bubble economy" has led to a long era of low growth. This change in the general business environment has profound consequences for the management and the organization of corporate Japan, as well as for the theory of the Japanese firm. The contributions to this book cover a broad range of subjects, from the strategies and organizational structures to the management of human resources and innovation processes in the 1990s. These changes are systematically commented on by field specialists from abroad, especially Europe, relating the situation in Japan to comparable developments in other countries.

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

Applying the new economics of organisation and relational theories of the firm to the problem of understanding cross-national variation in the political economy, this volume elaborates a new understanding of the institutional differences that characterise the 'varieties of capitalism' worldwide.

Takes readers through an in-depth examination of many leading industrialized nations and identifies both the drivers that propel corporations towards convergence and the major impediments that stand in the way of convergence. Also examines many mechanisms of convergence such as governance codes, MNCs, and IPOs.

Where will systemic change lead? This book offers fresh insights by collecting Japanese and German contributions to this scholarly discussion both from theoretical and empirical viewpoints.