Business Networks in Japan explores the creation of supplier-customer networks through case studies of two of Japan's largest companies: the Toshiba Corporation and the Nippon Steel Corporation.

The remarkable success of Japanese industry has frequently been attributed to the inter-corporate alliances and networks that exist in the Japanese economic system. Many commentators argue that is has been these networks that have been key to both the rapid growth and success of Japanese industry. Business Networks in Japan explores the creation of supplier-customer networks through case studies of two of Japan's largest companies: the Toshiba Corporation and the Nippon Steel Corporation. Jens Laage-Hellman examines the advantages that have been gained from cooperation with suppliers and customers in industrial markets and how they have been utilized to develop and commercialize new products. Importantly, the study reveals the differences and similarities in the networking and interacting behaviour of Japanese and Western companies, highlighting the importance of the Japanese industrial culture in fully realising the benefits of networks.

"For anyone interested in Keiretsu (Japan's enterprise groups), Gerlach's Alliance Capitalism is a must-read. He offers insightful and comprehensive analyses of their character, behavior, and recent rapid transformation. His knowledgeable discussion of their roles in Japanese economic performance supplements as well as challenges the increasing number of analyses offered by Japanese and American economists of the many aspects of Keiretsu."—Kozo Yamamura, University of Washington

No detailed description available for "Asian Business Networks".

Business Networks in East Asian Capitalisms: Enduring Trends, Emerging Patterns builds on the foundational studies conducted in the 1990s by gathering contemporary empirical and theoretical chapters which explore these themes in a comparative perspective. The book includes contributions from authors working on the relationship between personal and business networks in countries including China, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. Authors emphasize enduring trends in social and business networks and/or track new emerging patterns, both within East Asian nations or between East Asia and other regions such as Europe, Africa, and the Americas. - Provides contemporary, up-to-date empirical material and theoretical interpretation, charting the influence of more recent globalizing trends and institutional change in the region - Includes studies of networks within PRC, between PRC and other regions, and in Chinese communities - Offers studies centered on Korean, Japanese, and South East Asian Networks - Includes a geographical scope that will be broader than other books, aiming to include studies of newly developing economies in South East Asia that share a common cultural heritage (e.g Vietnam)

Japan's economy has long been described as network-centric. A web of stable, reciprocated relations among banks, firms, and ministries, is thought to play an important role in Japan's ability to navigate smoothly around economic shocks. Now those networks are widely blamed for Japan's faltering competitiveness. This book applies structural sociology to a study of how the form and functioning of this network economy has evolved from the prewar era to the late 90s. It asks whether, in the face of deregulation, globalization, and financial disintermediation, Japan's corporate networks - the keiretsu groupings particularly - have 'withered away', losing their cohesion and their historical function of supporting member firms in hard times. Using detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis, this book's conclusion is a qualified 'yes'. Relationships remain central to the Japanese way of business, but are much more subordinated to the competitive strategy of the enterprise than the network economy of the past.

The three papers in Volume 17 report new theory and in-depth descriptions of interfirm network behavior. Each paper includes extensive reviews of the relevant literature on interfirm network behavior as well as data analysis using empirical positivistic and/or case study research methods.

In order to defend themselves against commoditization and disruptive innovation, leading companies are now gaining competitive advantage through networked business models and tapping into talent from outside their company. Rather than implementing rigid "built-to-last" processes, organizations are now constructing more fluid "built-to-adapt" networks in which each member focuses on its differentiation and relies increasingly on its partners, suppliers, and customers to provide the rest. With contributions by the biggest names in business network transformation, this book offers cutting edge research and an in-depth exploration of critical topics such as customer value, supply networks, product leadership, global processes, operations, innovation, relationship management, and IT. The book also provides practical guidance for successfully engaging in BNT, and is filled with illustrative case studies from some of the world’s largest and most successful companies. It contains the vital information business leaders need to enable their companies to deliver faster innovation to customers at lower cost by sharing investments, assets, and ideas across their business networks. An essential resource for all business leaders, Business Network Transformation shows how to transform any business network to achieve competitive advantage and increase the bottom line. Contributors include Geoffrey Moore, Philip Lay, Marco Iansiti, Mohan Sawhney, Ranjay Gulati, David Kletter, Venkat Venkatraman, John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, Gautam Kasthurirangan, Randall Russell, Henry Chesbrough, Jeffrey Dyer, and Andrew McAfee.

Despite the current crisis, Asian economies remain an important market for firms around the world and continue to be stiff competitors in world business. One reason for the region's strength, and a predictor of Asia's endurance, are its business networks—^Ikeiretsus^R in Japan, ^Ichaebols^R in Korea, and other forms that connect single firms, entire industries, and which interlink the region as a whole. Richter and his contributors examine the origins of business networks, their effects on the economies, and the implications of their presence and growth in Asian economies. Corporate strategic planners, marketing executives, and other decision makers will find here an important contribution to their understanding of why Asia's economies will pick up again and how they will continue to grow. The book examines the promises of business networks and the role of transaction costs, interdependence, and membership commitment. The contributors do not automatically assume that past successes of these networks will mean future successes; rather, they define the outlines of new and innovative forms of networks, and see in their configurations an even better platform for further economic development in Asia and for the globalization of Asian multinationals. Contributors offer a critical approach to theory and practice of Asian networking, and because of their national diversity are able to provide a variety of viewpoints on them. Research-based and presenting the thinking of scholars and practitioners alike, the book supplies expert knowledge and a basis for academic discourse on managerial policy not easily found elsewhere.