- BA Course

Japanese economic growth has been one of the most remarkable success stories of the past century. Japanese management practices have emerged from Japan’s particular path to modernization and its capitalist conditions. What are the characteristics of Japanese capitalism? In what ways do capitalist economies differ from one another in their social organization, institutional embeddedness, gendered relations, and modes of governance? What are the challenges of such differences for management and economic performance in a competitive global economy? How have Japanese corporations responded to the processes of globalization and neo-liberalization? In tackling these questions, we will analyze the issues of industrialization, globalization and neoliberalism as well as a broad range of topics, including those related to labor, industrial organization, management, the theory of the firm, gender, and economic reforms in Japanese society. Thus this course challenges the common views of “Japanese management” and “Japanese corporations.” It introduces the complex development of Japanese capitalism from the early 19th century to the present and examines ongoing transformations within Japanese capitalism.