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Introduction
Japanese corporations have increased their presence in China significantly over the last decade and China has become for Japanese companies much more than just a cheap place for production. Seeing China as a market for their products and services, Japanese companies are transferring higher functions to China and need qualified manpower to fulfil them (Taura, 2005). However, Japanese firms report significant problems in this regard.
First, Japanese companies have to cope with high numbers of employees resigning from their positions. A survey by the Japan-China Investment Promotion Organization (NCTSK, 2005) found the separation rate for regular workers to be 11.5 and 12.4 per cent for university graduates, with the latter staying, on average, no longer than 3.2 years with their companies. Second, they have problems when competing for the best employees. Surveys have indicated that Japanese companies do not rank among the most popular employers, and are even frequently named as those foreign companies that people would least want to work for (Zhang, 2003). In 2004, according to a Chinese recruitment website (www.chinahr.com), Sony, although the most popular Japanese company, was only ranked 24th; only one other Japanese company, Matsushita, made it into the 50 most popular companies (46th) (Nikkei SangyoShinbun , 21 December 2004: 24).
These observations provided the starting point for this study. What is it like to work for a Japanese corporation and why do Japanese corporations enjoy such low popularity among local employees? To answer these questions, this study followed a qualitative research approach by using in-depth interviews with Chinese employees. This approach was chosen to keep possible outcomes as open as possible. This seemed to be especially important, since the study was conducted during a time of intense political friction between the two countries, which resulted in mass and sometimes violent demonstrations against Japan in China.
Of course, this is not the first time that human resource management (HRM) by Japanese companies has been studied in the context of foreign direct investment. Indeed, since Japanese companies have come up with quite a distinct HRM model, the question has repeatedly been how and whether Japanese companies can transfer this model to their overseas operations (eg Komai, 1989; Beechler and Yang, 1994; Gill and Wong, 1998; Konomoto, 2000)....