Changing Japanese Business, Economy and Society: Globalization of Post-Bubble Japan
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Changing Japanese Business, Economy and Society: Globalization of Post-Bubble Japan Masao Nakamura (ed.) Palgrave, Basingstoke, 2004, 288pp. ISBN: 1403941343 Asian Business & Management (2006) 5, 303–306. doi:10.1057/palgrave.abm.9200171
One of the striking economic facts of the 1980s and early 1990s, in virtually all OECD economies, was an increase in a number of components of something widely called ‘globalization’. Globalization has seemingly accelerated, as evidenced by, among other things, growth in the trade of goods and services and foreign direct investment. The driving forces seem to be a decline in administrative barriers to trade, sharp falls in the costs of transportation and communication and the fragmentation of production processes. From an academic and policy-making perspective, these developments have stimulated research on a broad range of policy-related issues, from trade and macroeconomic and labour market policy coordination to the internationalization of non-border measures. At the ‘populist’ level, there is a heightened concern with policy responses to globalization, as witnessed by the mass demonstrations at WTO and World Bank/IMF meetings. As an economist, I share the majority of my profession’s sentiments about the positive and progressive aspects of globalization. However, this is most definitely at odds with the sentiments of the average citizen, who seems extremely worried about globalization. It is surely true, but not useful, to say that citizen and economist simply do not understand the benefits and costs of globalization in the same way. There are good reasons why the economist feels comfortable arguing that, at least at an aggregate level, globalization is either no big deal or a substantial boon. It would be comforting to conclude that the citizen is simply wrong, with the obvious implication being that a little bit more effort at public education would help reduce ‘global-phobia’. Notwithstanding, we need to seriously consider the possibility that the widespread concern with globalization emerges as a result of changes that are, to some extent, obscured when we apply standard economic models and methods to understand globalization. The book under review here makes some progress towards understanding this conundrum. It contains an edited collection of papers delivered at the 2001 Conference on Comparative International Studies of Social Cohesion and Globalization. The particular focus is on how Japan has coped, and is coping, with globalization.
Book reviews
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The last decade of the last century and the early years of the new millennium have been trying times for Japan. In Japan, the 1990s are now widely referred to as the ‘Lost Decade’. Of course, the tide of opinion about what was so virtuous about ‘Japan Inc.’ has now most definitely turned. Focus on corporate disclosure, accounting practices, board structures and the role and influence of shareholders have led to calls for sweeping reforms. Deflation, high unemployment and a long economic slump have accelerated the impetu
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