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INTRODUCTION
As Japan continues to grow in global economic dominance and the United States continues to decline, the role of Japanese-style management in Japan's economic success has become an active area of conjecture and debate for scholars, journalists, and the general public. During the "Japan Boom" of the early 1980s, most popular and scholarly attention was focused on Japanese management in Japan. However, Japanese foreign direct investments (FDI) skyrocketed during the 1980s, with worldwide Japanese FDI increasing from $33.4 billion in 1987 to $67.5 billion in 1989 when Japan became the world's largest foreign direct investor [JETRO 1991, p.28]. As many Japanese multinational companies (MNEs) came of age, successfully making the transition to not only viable but also world-competitive firms, much popular and scholarly attention shifted from Japanese management at home to how Japanese companies manage their overseas operations and whether they are able to make Japanese management "work" in a foreign environment.
During the 1980s, the United States consistently received the largest share of Japanese foreign direct investment and in 1989 over $33 billion were invested in the U.S. by Japanese firms [JETRO 1991, p.28]. Although new Japanese foreign direct investment has dropped off somewhat during the early 1990s, the United States still received the largest share of Japanese FDI in 1990 and 1991. In fact, in 1991, the U.S. share of Japanese FDI amounted to 43% (over $18 billion) of Japan's total investment worldwide [Keizai Koho Center 1993, p.55].
Japan's investments in the United States have brought with them an increase in public and scholarly attention, and there is now a sizable body of literature on the management practices of Japanese firms in the United States. However, most of the information is anecdotal in nature and there have been surprisingly few empirical studies of these key economic actors (for recent exceptions see Pucik, Hanada and Fifield [1989]; Florida and Kenney [1991]; Yang [1992a, 1992b]; Kenney and Florida [1993]; Beechler and Bird [1994]). This paper helps fill this gap by presenting qualitative data on the management practices of Japanese firms operating in the United States within the context of a broader theoretical model.
In this paper, we present data on ten Japanese subsidiaries, five manufacturers and five service firms, located in the United States....