The Changing Japanese Multinational: Application, Adaptation and Learning in Car Manufacturing and Financial Services*
The Changing Japanese Multinational: Application, Adaptation and Learning in Car Manufacturing and Financial Services*
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不断变化的日本跨国公司：汽车制造和金融服务领域的应用、适应和学习*
DOI：
10.1111/1467-6486.00355
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发表时间：
2003
影响因子：
10.5
通讯作者：
Diana Rosemary Sharpe
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
R. Whitley;G. Morgan;W. Kelly;Diana Rosemary Sharpe
日益国际化的经营，持续的国内衰退，以及日本经济对外国投资的逐步开放，这些因素的结合可能会改变日本跨国公司的许多特征。特别是，随着公司变得更愿意将海外子公司作为创新和学习的来源，而不是作为国内设计和开发的产品的交付渠道，海外部门的中央控制水平和模式可能会发生变化，特别是它们对外籍管理人员的依赖。这些变化更有可能发生在由非日本公司主导的行业，如国际金融服务。对英国和日本14家日本制造和金融服务公司的经理的采访证实，它们在20世纪90年代的国际化模式存在显著差异，无论是行业之间还是行业内部。汽车制造商尤其投入了大量资源，将其国内业务的重要特征转移到英国子公司，通常是由外籍经理参与，其中一家正在投资培养一支国际经理队伍。就银行和其他金融服务公司而言，日本持续的银行业危机及其欧洲业务的盈利能力有限，刺激了各种反应。虽然一些公司干脆退出了为非日本客户提供服务，或者干脆退出了欧洲，但另一些公司则试图开发新的技能和方法，以便在重新关注日本客户以提高盈利能力的同时，有效地与老牌盎格鲁-撒克逊公司竞争。然而，伦敦和日本劳动力市场的做法截然不同，使得许多银行很难培养出扎实的特定技能，使它们能够在目前由西方银行主导的市场上具有竞争力。这引发了一些普遍的问题，即跨国公司如何在不同组织的技能形成和控制系统中协调技能和职业。
ABSTRACT The combination of increasingly international operations, the continuing domestic recession, and the gradual opening of the Japanese economy to foreign investment might be expected to change many features of Japanese multinational companies. In particular, the level and mode of central control of overseas units, especially their reliance on expatriate managers, could change as firms become more willing to use foreign subsidiaries as sources of innovation and learning rather than as delivery pipelines for domestically designed and developed products. These changes are more likely in sectors dominated by non‐Japanese firms, such as international financial services. Interviews with managers of 14 Japanese manufacturing and financial service firms in the UK and Japan confirmed substantial differences in their internationalization patterns in the 1990s, both between and within sectors. Car manufacturers in particular invested major resources in transferring significant features of their domestic operations to UK units, usually with expatriate managers, and one was investing in developing an international cadre of managers. In the case of banks and other financial service companies, the continuing banking crisis in Japan and limited profitability of their European operations, had stimulated a variety of responses. While some had simply withdrawn from serving non‐Japanese clients, or withdrawn altogether from Europe, others were trying to develop new skills and approaches to compete effectively with established Anglo‐Saxon firms at the same time as refocusing on Japanese customers to improve profitability. However, the sharply contrasting labour market practices in London and Japan made it difficult for many banks to develop firm specific skills that would enable them to become competitive in markets currently dominated by western banks. This raises general questions about how multinational companies coordinate skills and careers across differently organized skill formation and control systems.