Japanese management and salary productivity: the case of the electronic and automotive industries in Portugal

This paper intended to assert in what form the Japanese approach to business management, concerning the factors human resources, research and development (R&D) and organization and methods, has effect on the value creation by workers, beyond that expressed in direct salaries. The investigation fell on companies in the electronic and automotive sectors operating in Portugal, with and without Japanese capital, in the 6-year span from 2001 to 2006. This paper is divided into four parts. The first part presents the Workonomic Index as an indicator of salary productivity – the measure of the value creation by workers, beyond that expressed in direct salaries. The second part presents in short the factors that are linked to the high productivity of the Japanese industrial worker. The third part presents the goal, hypothesis and methodology of the empirical study, namely the components of the above-mentioned factors. Finally, the fourth part is dedicated to the presentation of the empirical study and its conclusions. The specific results demonstrated that the impact on salary productivity is clearly visible over the factor organization and methods. In addition, there is evidence of substantial indirect influence of R&D on the creation of surplus value.