The book describes Japanese economic links with peripheral regions in Europe. Focusing particularly on manufacturing investment, the impact of Japanese firms is assessed against a background of increasing European economic integration. The uneven distribution of Japan's economic presence in Europe is emphasised, as is the importance of core economic regions for future investment activity. The growing importance of core regions is then linked to emerging patterns in the growth of science-based industries, as well as efforts by national and regional agencies to attract inward investment.

"In Japan and the European Union, Dr. Abe sets out to answer a number of crucial questions on the effect of Japan's international relations upon its internal affairs - in particular how international issues, and Japan's growing relationship with the EU, have come to penetrate the political economy and decision-making structure in Japanese industry and legislation. Japan/EU affairs have never been marked by any significant political relations, and until the past twenty years, characterised by a reserved indifference. However, as a result of accelerated political and economic changes in the past decade, the two economic giants have made considerable efforts to nurture bilateral relations largely initiated by trade concerns. The author examines the development of this relationship informed by International Relations perspectives and taking into account the growing dependence of successful bilateral relations on the international political economy." "Furthermore, Dr. Abe explains the attempt that has been made to resolve Japanese/EU disputes by way of a Joint Declaration. This includes an examination of the 1991 Automobile Agreement involving Japan, the EC Commission and the Japanese manufacturers; and the Liquor Tax dispute which ran from 1986-1995. Throughout this account, the concerns of the United States, and its impact on this relationship, are fully registered."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Ever since the Industrial Revolution of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, industrialization has been the key to modern economic growth. The fact that modern industry originated in Britain, and spread initially to north-western Europe and North America, implied a dramatic divergence in living standards between the industrial North (or West) and a non-industrial, or even de-industrializing, South (or Rest). This nineteenth-century divergence, which had profound economic, military, and geopolitical implications, has been studied in great detail by many economists and historians. Today, this divergence between the West and the Rest is visibly unraveling, as economies in Asia, Latin America and even sub-Saharan Africa converge on the rich economies of Europe and North America. This phenomenon, which is set to define the twenty-first century, both economically and politically, has also been the subject of a considerable amount of research. Less appreciated, however, are the deep historical roots of this convergence process, and in particular of the spread of modern industry to the global periphery. This volume fills this gap by providing a systematic, comparative, historical account of the spread of modern manufacturing beyond its traditional heartland, to Southern and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, or what we call the poor periphery. It identifies the timing of this convergence, finding that this was fastest in the interwar and post-World War II years, not the more recent miracle growth years. It also identifies which driving forces were common to all periphery countries, and which were not.

How the rise of globalization over the past two centuries helps explain the income gap between rich and poor countries today. Today's wide economic gap between the postindustrial countries of the West and the poorer countries of the third world is not new. Fifty years ago, the world economic order—two hundred years in the making—was already characterized by a vast difference in per capita income between rich and poor countries and by the fact that poor countries exported commodities (agricultural or mineral products) while rich countries exported manufactured products. In Trade and Poverty, leading economic historian Jeffrey G. Williamson traces the great divergence between the third world and the West to this nexus of trade, commodity specialization, and poverty. Analyzing the role of specialization, de-industrialization, and commodity price volatility with econometrics and case studies of India, Ottoman Turkey, and Mexico, Williamson demonstrates why the close correlation between trade and poverty emerged. Globalization and the great divergence were causally related, and thus the rise of globalization over the past two centuries helps account for the income gap between rich and poor countries today.

The North of England has claimed more inward investment form East Asia than any other region in Britain, or indeed any region in the other member states of the European Union. Specialists from business organization and management join with political economists and geographers to consider how this Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has influenced change in the region, and plot the dynamics of this particularly British phenomenon.

The Regional Handbooks of Economic Development series provides accessible overviews of countries within their larger domestic and international contexts, focusing on the relations among regions as they meet the challenges of the twenty first century. The series allows the non-specialist student to explore a wide range of complex factors-social and political as well as economic-that affect the growth of developing regions in Asia, Europe, and South America. Each Handbook provides an overview chapter discussing the region's economic conditions within an historical and political context, as well as 20 or more chapter-length essays written by recognized experts, which analyze the key issues affecting a region's economy: its population, natural resources, foreign trade, labor problems, and economic inequalities, and other vital factors. In addition, the volumes offer useful support materials, including a series of appendices that include a detailed chronology of events in the region, a glossary of terms, biographical entries on key personalities, an annotated bibliography of further reading, and a comprehensive analytical index.

Japanese firms are in the midst of the most protracted economic crisis in their post-war history. The end of the "bubble economy" has led to a long era of low growth. This change in the general business environment has profound consequences for the management and the organization of corporate Japan, as well as for the theory of the Japanese firm. The contributions to this book cover a broad range of subjects, from the strategies and organizational structures to the management of human resources and innovation processes in the 1990s. These changes are systematically commented on by field specialists from abroad, especially Europe, relating the situation in Japan to comparable developments in other countries.

This detailed and lucid volume is an essential resource for students of Asian Studies and International Politics.

This book explores the social and cultural dimensions of Japan's global presence as an economic giant. Areas examined include Japanese multinational corporations, popular music and perceptions of Japan in France and Korea.

Not another 'misunderstandings and misconceptions' volume, but a wide-ranging review of intellectual traditions, mutual and alternative images, and case studies of people and events that mirror the focus of this book.