Development of Intra-Area Division of Labor in East Asia and Reorganization of Industries and Restructure of Companies in Japan

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This Project is aimed at examining, through field research, reorganization of industries in Japan and intra-firm re-division of labor of Japanese companies closely related to the development of international division of labor in East Asia. Followings are major points of our Research. Firstly around 2000, leading Japanese electronics companies reduced their employees considerably suffered from bad macro economic conditions and sever international competition, particularly from East Asian-based companies. However, it does not mean necessarily that hollowing out in domestic plants proceeds. Japanese electronics companies and their domestic plants even now maintain competitive edge in terms of key components of digital electronics products. Japanese domestic plants supply these key components to their sister plants and rival companies abroad. Secondly, Managerial environment of automotive industry rather different from electronics industry, as competitive pressure from East Asian countries … More are not so strong. Of course, automotive companies have enlarged their foreign operations more and more in both assembly and component areas. According to that, however, the role of domestic plants becomes even more important in terms of technical aids and key component supply. Thirdly, though, in general, situations surrounding medium and small size enterprises are severe, managerial conditions of those companies targeted by our research vary company to company. Some believe that the most suitable location for production lies in Japan, whereas others manage to survive specializing goods for domestic market. Some have developed both domestic and foreign plants seeking desirable division of labor among their own factories and others have enlarged plants abroad following their customers. Fourthly, regarding to Chinese companies, following managerial style is impressive. One company applies the carrot and the stick oriented Human Resource Management policy strictly to all the operations including quality control. Another pursues positioning oriented strategy, in which she prioritizes seeking market opportunities and aggressively acquires managerial resources including human resources from the outside if she lacks appropriate resources to grab the opportunities. This type of strategy is apparently different from main stream of Japanese counterparts which take account of resource-based strategy. Less