Europe and the Japanese Challenge


Book Description

A study of the history of Japanese involvement and investment in Europe from the early part of this century to the present day. The main focus of the analysis centres on the auto industry consumer electronics and banking, whilst the different reactions to Japanese investment in Europe and the United States is also considered.




Japan


Book Description

This paper assesses the stability of the financial system in Japan. Although the financial system has remained stable, the low profitability environment is creating new risks, and pressures are likely to persist. The search for yield among banks has led some to expand their overseas activities, and more generally to a growth in real estate lending and foreign securities investments. Efforts to increase risk-based lending to small-and medium-sized enterprises are welcome, but many banks still need to develop commensurate credit assessment capacities. Stress tests suggest that the banking sector remains broadly sound, although market risks are increasing, and there are some vulnerabilities among regional banks.




Japan and the European Periphery


Book Description

The book describes Japanese economic links with peripheral regions in Europe. Focusing particularly on manufacturing investment, the impact of Japanese firms is assessed against a background of increasing European economic integration. The uneven distribution of Japan's economic presence in Europe is emphasised, as is the importance of core economic regions for future investment activity. The growing importance of core regions is then linked to emerging patterns in the growth of science-based industries, as well as efforts by national and regional agencies to attract inward investment.










The Clash of Economic Cultures


Book Description

The globalization of the world economy today means that more and more people are experiencing working in another culture. Focusing on the real experiences of workers in Japanese transnational finance companies, this book not only throws light on this specific case, but at the same time raises timely questions and insights concerning the newly emerging multicultural work experiences world-wide. The Clash of Economic Cultures: Japanese Bankers in the City of London reflects on contemporary discussions in sociology, anthropology and cultural studies of individual global movement and cultural interaction. While there are some studies on Japanese multinational companies in Europe, they have typically assumed stereotyped differences in management systems and work cultures. This book, however, breaks the mold by looking at the culture and individuals' subjective views about their working lives and also their own worldviews; this perspective illuminates the difficulties in working relationships between Japanese and Europeans. Junko Sakai reveals, through 100 transcribed interviews, the influence of power relationships on people of different groups in terms of gender, class, and ethnicity. The Clash of Economic Cultures shows uneven transformation of economic and cultural hegemony between East and West. This book gives voice to Japanese men and women whose voices are rarely heard, and to the British who have worked for non-Westerners in the West. It is also a significant and timely analysis of the increasing influence of non-Western companies in London. It will be of great interest to cultural anthropologists, business historians, sociologists and scholars in Japanese and Asian studies, as well as those involved in international finance and management.




Japanese Bankers in the City of London


Book Description

The globalisation of the present day world economy means that more and more people are experiencing different cultures through their work. Focusing on the real experiences of workers in Japanese transnational finance companies, this book not only throws light on this specific case, but at the same time raises timely questions and insights into the newly-emerging multicultural work experience worldwide. Japanese Bankers in the City of London reflects on contemporary discussions in sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, of individual global movement and cultural interaction.




Multinational Enterprise and Economic Analysis


Book Description

This book surveys the contributions that economic analysis has made to our understanding of why multinational enterprises exist.




The Impact of Japanese Investment on the New Town of Milton Keynes


Book Description

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is pivotal to the UK economy, with the UK being both the second largest investor abroad and the second largest host to foreign companies. Although since the Second World War FDI has been dominated by the USA, the more recent rise of Japan as both an international force in global markets and as an investor, has seen increasing amounts of Japanese FDI being directed towards the UK. Further, the perceived innovativeness of Japanese work organisation is held by many to have an even greater qualitative impact than the quantitative significance of Japanese FDI would indicate, providing both a 'demonstration' effect and a competitive spur to indigenous companies that it is believed has the power to transform the UK's competitiveness. However, many aspects of the 'Japanese challenge' have become mythologised, and it is important not to simply take these claims as axiomatic, especially as Government policy - including financial inducements to inward investors - are based upon these assumptions. Therefore, this dissertation uses primary and secondary research to assess the impact Japanese investment has had upon the new town of Milton Keynes (MK), which is the home to a significant cluster of Japanese investors, with a composition that broadly reflects FDI into the UK from Japan as a whole. The conclusion is that although there have been benefits in terms of employment, any positive transformative effect upon either indigenous industry or human capital has been limited. Further, the structural weakness in skills of the UK economy mean that Japanese investment may impose longer-term costs upon UK welfare.