Personnel Management In Action Management Systems and Practices In Japanese Subsidiaries: Japanization or Localization?

Japanese management is not a rigid set of unified principles and conceptsbut rather, a system that adapts to changes in order to survive. Its introduction into the operations of Japanese overseas subsidiaries depends more on economic considerations than upon socio-cultural constraints which exist in the host country. Certain management systems and practices in A ustralian-based Japanese subsidiaries deviate from the model of Japanese management. This article argues, however, that such deviations do not necessarily lead to the local-ization of the management systems and practices of these subsidiaries. On the contrary, it shows that the key features of the Japanese management model have already been transferred to the operations of the subsidiaries. It is therefore suggested, that the progressive Japanization of the manage-ment systems and practices of the subsidiaries is underway. The implications of such a development for Australian companies and the labour force are far reaching. Convergence of the management systems and practices of Australian companies towards the Japanese model is a very likely outcome. THE PROBLEM AREA For the past ten or fifteen years Japanese-owned subsidiaries have been playing a vital role in Australia’s economy. However, despite their presence, which is dominant in certain industries (e.g. automobile, consumer elec-tronics), much remains to be learned about their management systems and practices. In this article three questions are explored. at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on March 5, 2016apj.sagepub.comDownloaded fro