Specialist manufacturers have existed in Japan from even before the start of industrialization in the late nineteenth century. Proliferating since but remaining steadfastly lean, many of them can be categorized as leading medium-sized enterprises. This book looks at how they are globalizing and assuming a role as East Asian specialists.

Japan is attempting to build a new economy. It goes by various names, such as 'Society 5.0', 'sustainable capitalism', and 'new form of capitalism'. It is to be constructed through digital and green transformation, and a 'virtuous cycle of growth and distribution'. The effort faces strong headwinds, including demographic decline and ageing, Japan's external energy dependence and geopolitical turbulence, and the legacies of Japan's 'lost decades'. Nonetheless, since 2015 a path has been identified that steers between Big Tech market oligopoly on the one hand, and an overbearing state on the other. For others facing the same post-neoliberal, sustainability transformation challenges as Japan, this public-private coordinated building effort is noteworthy. Building a New Economy uses an evolutionary conceptual framework of states-and-markets, organizations-and-technology, and institutional change. It shows how the institutional coherence of the manufacturing-centred postwar model broke down, and was followed by the ideological and institutional dissonance of the 'lost decades'. However, new institutional building blocks have been identified and (partially) assembled which could lead Japan towards a new model which is more open and adaptive. These blocks include a reconfigured developmental state, and new forms of coordination with and within the corporate sector, at times encompassing civil society. Importantly, for a country that has favoured social stability over creative destruction, and has struggled with change, the path forward may require 'controlled dis-equilibrium' of institutions rather than tight coherence. 'Society 5.0' and the 'new form of capitalism' claim to be people-centred; making them so will be the crucial challenge.

Economic history in modern Asia is commonly written in terms of its impact on the West. This book, the result of a 1993 workshop held in Osaka on the role of China in the Asian economy, argues that the growth of trade and the migration of capital itself has been a strong factor in determining East Asian development. The twelve papers in this volume concern themselves with three major themes. The first is the importance of economic interactions between Japan and China--for example, how Japan's industrialization took advantage of the Chinese merchant networks in Asia and how Chinese competition was a critical factor in Japanese organizational and technological upgrading in the periods in between. The second theme shows how China's entry into the international economy was shaped by the growth of intra-Asian trade, by migration, and by capital flows and remittances. The third is how intra-Asian trade enables us to understand the nature of colonialism and the climate of imperialism.

International standards ensure that organisations operate the right processes to support their objectives. International Standards for Design and Manufacturing is an accessible guide for manufacturing and production managers and students. It guides readers through the standards needed to build operating systems which are robust, integrated and used to drive the continuous improvement of business performance. International Standards for Design and Manufacturing is based on many years of research collaboration between Swansea University and leading manufacturing and production practitioners from key companies from around the world. Each chapter includes an introduction to the standards being discussed, definitions, examples of using the standards in practice, why these standards are important, conclusions, seminar topics and mock exam questions to allow the reader to test their knowledge and understanding.

This pioneering work discusses the role of Japan in the economic development of Singapore since 1965 by looking at the nature and extent of the value-added activities of Japanese multinational corporations (MNCs) in the manufacturing, construction, and retailing sectors. Japan's economic presence and influence were very strong in Singapore during this period. The city-state was a major recipient of Japanese foreign direct investment in Asia, and was also an important overseas customer for Japanese manufacturing and construction firms. In this book, Hiroshi Shimizu examines the value-added activities of Japanese multinational corporations in Singapore, drawing on case studies of leading companies such as Minebea, Pokka Corporation, Kikkoman, Bridgestone, and Isetan. He uses this information to analyse Japanese foreign direct investment in Singapore as part of an Asian or global strategy, explaining competition and co-operation between Japanese MNCs and local firms, and evaluating various factors that led to a decline of Japan and the rise in the importance of China in Singapore, particularly since the late 1990s.

An Introduction to Japanese Society provides a highly readable introduction to Japanese society by internationally renowned scholar Yoshio Sugimoto. Taking a sociological approach, the text examines the multifaceted nature of contemporary Japanese society with chapters covering class, geographical and generational variation, work, education, gender, ethnicity, religion, popular culture, and the establishment. This edition begins with a new historical introduction placing the sociological analysis of contemporary Japan in context, and includes a new chapter on religion and belief systems. Comprehensively revised to include current research and statistics, the text covers changes to the labor market, evolving conceptions of family and gender, demographic shifts in an aging society, and the emergence of new social movements. Each chapter now contains illustrative case examples, research questions, recommended further readings and useful online resources. Written in a lively and engaging style, An Introduction to Japanese Society remains essential reading for all students of Japanese society.

This book gives an account of concrete market situations and describes marketing strategies and distribution channels of German manufacturing firms, German and foreign trading firms and Japanese partner firms on the Japanese market in important product areas.