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On Japanese Boards of Directors |
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Abegglen and Stalk point out that in Japan, a company's Board of Directors is made up of life-long employees, some of whom may even have served on the executive committee of the union which represents the company's employees. Many Western managers are aghast when they hear about this. But they should consider that both management and the union have interests that converge with the continued health and success of the company. This is a very different situation than the one that exists between many Western firms and their Boards of Directors - whose role is to protect the financial interests of shareholders, most of whom expect returns each and every quarter, no matter what is going on in the industry or economy.
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Abegglen, James C., Stalk, George Jr. Kaisha: The Japanese Corporation. Basic Books. New York. 1985.
This expansive examination of Japanese business practices will be of particular interest to Western readers interested in developing their organization's flexibility. This book cuts through the Western myths about Japanese enterprises. The authors reveal how Japanese marketing practices, financial relationships, and workforce strategies, not management style, make Kaishas world pace setters. Abegglen and Stalk lay out the truth, and provide an understanding of which Japanese practices can be transplanted into Western businesses, and which cannot. As they show, it is the Japanese focus on coordination, flexibility and responsiveness which provides their competitive advantage.
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