The transfer of HRM policies and practices to a transitional business system: the case of performance management practices in the US and Japanese MNEs operating in Vietnam

This paper focuses on employee performance management (PM) to explore how multinational enterprises (MNEs) localise their human resources within their subsidiaries in a developing country. It uses qualitative research methods to examine four US and four Japanese MNEs operating in Vietnam. The paper identifies both home and host country effects as significant factors in the transfer of MNEs' PM policies and practices. The US firms emphasised financial and non-financial measurements and utilised a wide range of PM management tools and techniques. These techniques, despite being unfamiliar in Vietnam and possibly considered incompatible with Vietnamese culture, were transferred successfully to the Vietnamese subsidiaries. The Japanese firms' PM approach was characterised by a more informal form of regular performance review, within a strictly top-down process and which suffered from accusations of bias and lack of transparency by Vietnamese respondents. This paper argues that the transitional period in Vietnam from a centrally planned economy to a market-oriented one has made the national business system more receptive to new and seemingly contrasting practices. It provides no evidence to support the argument that transfer of practices is more likely, where the cultures of the countries involved are relatively similar.     

Japanese managers and British culture: a comparative case study

This paper examines the applicability of Japanese management practices in Britain within a socio-cultural perspective. Using a case study research in a Japanese multinational subsidiary in Britain, the paper argues that some management practices are incompatible with British societal and business cultural characteristics and are therefore not adopted by the Japanese managers working in this country. There are some practices which can more readily be adapted to local conditions and have successfully been implemented in Britain.     

SIMPLY A QUESTION OF CULTURAL BARRIERS? THE SEARCH FOR NEW PERSPECTIVES IN THE TRANSFER OF JAPANESE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

This paper discusses the transfer of management practices from parent companies in Japan into the operations of overseas subsidiaries of Japanese enterprises. the literature reviewed as well as the findings of case studies on human resource management practices in Japanese manufacturing firms in Australia suggest that key but rather high-cost practices associated with Japanese management including tenured employment, seniority-based remuneration and the provision of extensive welfare benefits are absent in overseas Japanese firms. On the other hand, relatively low-cost practices such as internal training, internal promotion and job rotation have been generally introduced into the firms researched. It appears, therefore, that the transfer of Japanese management practices is primarily affected by economic considerations rather than socio-cultural constraints as it has frequently been argued in the literature. Thus, the development of new theoretical frameworks explaining the transfer (or its absence) of Japanese management practices is essential. the paper takes a small step in this direction by suggesting that the overseas expansion of Japanese subcontracting networks including large-scale corporations as well as smaller size firms, produces conditions leading to the marginalization of segments of the local labour force and the emergence of the core-peripheral workforce dichotomy at the international level.     

Human resource management in Asian subsidiaries: comparison of French and Japanese MNCs

European and Japanese multinational corporations (MNCs) have expanded their activities in Asia, usually through massive mobilization of various human resources from head offices, whether expatriated or on short-term assignments, and a reliance on diverse categories of local employees. Because expatriation is costly, difficult and often limited in its results, MNCs have developed localization strategies for management positions to support their regional development. This contribution addresses such a scenario by comparing Japanese and French MNCs in eight Asian countries, based on 53 interviews across subsidiaries of 17 MNCs. We find that Japanese MNCs have not localized management positions as much as French MNCs, but they have grown more willing to do so. To compensate for the lack of local capabilities without sending more expatriates, both French and Japanese MNCs frequently send experts on short-term assignments. Finally, though human resource practices vary widely across countries, even for a given MNC, some harmonizing principles have been introduced to regional HRM strategies recently.     

Leveraging competitiveness upon national cultural traits: the management of people in Brazilian companies

This paper aims to discuss the leveraging of competitiveness upon cultural traits. Since the globalization process has raised a series of challenges for companies around the world, companies have sought to respond mainly through the adoption of management practices proved to be successful elsewhere. However, due to the anchoring of many management practices, especially those of human resources, in the socio-cultural context of a country, the import and/or transfer of management practices between different contexts risk resulting in changes which may be only superficial. There are, however, some exceptions. Some managers have chosen to build their companies' competitiveness through management practices firmly anchored on the cultural traits of their countries, instead of looking for practices from successful companies. This process is obviously not simple because it requires from company leaders first the capacity to re-signify the cultural trait in a different manner, i.e. to perceive it as a source of competitiveness for the company and, second, the competence to build a management practice upon this cultural trait so that it will leverage the competitiveness of the company. In order to illustrate how typical cultural traits from a country may leverage the competitiveness of a company, we present the case of Natura, a Brazilian cosmetics manufacturer, which has constructed much of its competitiveness through the adoption of management practices anchored in some typical Brazilian cultural traits. The analysis of the case demonstrates that this process of developing competitive management practices is feasible, but it must be based upon a solid system of values that the team leader practises or wants practised. Otherwise, it is unlikely that the management practices will stand or that people will be committed to them.     

Farewell to HRM? Personnel practices in Japanese manufacturing plants in the UK

While Japanese manufacturing investment burgeoned in the UK in the 1980s and 1990s, its relative size remained small. Nevertheless, its impact was greater than its size. At its extreme it was championed by the 'new right' as the way forward for industrial practices, while manufacturing organizations in the UK were quick to attempt to emulate Japanese management practices. Core to these practices was the management of human resources. Coincidentally in the 1980s a new model of personnel management was being championed, namely human resource management (HRM). This was eagerly embraced by UK academics and was translated into two distinct forms, 'hard and soft'. Despite appearing mutually incompatible, the hard and soft forms were forged into a unified model. This paper, drawing on an empirical analysis of personnel practices in Japanese manufacturing plants in the UK, searches for a conjuncture between the HRM model and 'Japanese' models. It concludes that, while there are similarities between the two, there are also distinct differences. Moreover, where similarities exist they are with the hard variety of HRM.     

The competitive advantage of nations: the role of HRM and its socio-cultural context

This study focuses on the links between human resource management practices and the socio-cultural characteristics of nations, on the one hand, and their competitive advantage in the international market, on the other. The particularly important conclusion is that some nations' cultures offer their managers a higher repertoire of modes of management practices than some others. In high repertoire nations, organizations appear to be better equipped to compete internationally than their counterparts in low repertoire nations.     

International human resource policies and practices in japanese,european, and united states multinationals

This article presents the results of a survey comparing international human resource policies and practices in Japanese, European, and United States multinational companies. The survey focused on the use of expatriates over local nationals in overseas management positions, adoption of nonethnocentric policies, and incidence of international human resource management problems. Regression analysis using the entire sample indicated that ethnocentric staffing and policies are associated with higher incidence of international human resource management problems. Also, Japanese companies as a group are shown to have more ethnocentric staffing practices and policies, and they experience more international human resource management problems than do American and European firms.     

The ‘Company with Committees’: Change or Continuity in Japanese Corporate Governance?

Corporate governance practices are arguably diffusing across the world. This paper examines the adoption of the committee‐based governance system (i.e. audit, nomination, and remuneration) in Japanese firms, a practice common in Anglo‐American capitalism but potentially contestable in Japan. The study finds that firms that are internationally exposed through cross listing are more likely to adopt the committee system. Moreover, more experienced and highly cross‐held firms, with larger proportions of foreign ownership, are more likely to adopt the committee system. On the other hand our study finds partial support for the hypothesis that larger proportions of bank ownership are negatively associated with the adoption of the committee system, suggesting a gradual withdrawal by banks from the traditional monitoring of firms. This paper adds to the longstanding debate on the convergence on or persistent divergence from the Anglo‐American corporate governance system. The study thus provides insights into corporate governance changes in non‐Anglo/American countries that face a struggle between global capital market forces for change and deep‐seated institutional practices of continuity.     

JAPANESE MANAGERIAL PRACTICES IN THE MALAYSIAN ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY: TWO CASE STUDIES

The transferability of the Japanese management syndrome is examined through an analysis of the employment policies and practices of two major Japanese multinational electronics companies operating in Malaysia. the evidence suggests that the question of transferability must be considered in the specific historical context. While such companies operate from within a preferred managerial style, the case study evidence suggests that employment policy and practice is likely to be significantly constrained by business objectives and heavily conditioned by the local economic, political and legal conditions and socio-cultural values.     

Managing the Managers: Japanese Management Strategies in the USA

One of the greatest difficulties Japanese multinationals have had is managing American managers in their US subsidiaries. The reason for this is fundamental and profound: Americans and Japanese conceive of management very differently and have strikingly different conceptions of themselves as managers and of correct management practice.
We do two things in this paper. First, borrowing from social psychology, we explore the idea of the 'management self'. Second, we report our research on management self-conception and style in Japanese-owned factories or 'transplants' in the USA.
The research reports the results of 34 interviews conducted with 19 US and Japanese managers in three electronics transplants. Each factory had adopted different combinations or 'hybridizations' of the management styles of the two countries. The three factories had very different characters. One was dominated by Japanese management practice, another by American practice, and the third was a hybrid of the two styles. We found four factors critical determinants of management style: the nationality of the general manager, a stated preference (or lack thereof) for bicultural management, control over the budget-setting process, and the strength of the Japanese assignees     

Cross-national learning from best practice and the convergence-divergence debate in HRM

The chief objective of this paper is to develop suggestions as to how to learn from best practices in HRM across national borders. The analysis is based on survey data gathered from 232 HRM managers from American, Japanese and German top 500 companies. The managers provide information on how the HRM model of their respective country is characterized and from which of the other two country models they seek inspiration. The concrete attributes of the models considered worth adopting are described in detail and future developments with regards to convergence of the HRM models explored. The empirical data suggest that HR managers from all three countries expect a partial convergence towards a hybrid model. Curiously, the model that comes closest to this hybrid – the German one – is also the one that rates lowest as a source of inspiration. An argument is made that in order to better understand learning from best practice and resulting convergence tendencies, research should seek more insights regarding the knowledge of managers about foreign management models, their perceptions of these models, and how these perceptions are generated.     

Organisation vs. culture: Japanese automotive transplants in the US

It has long been argued that the Japanese production organization is culture-bound and therefore not transferable to other countries. This article examines seven major Japanese automobile assembly plants and over 270 Japanese automotive parts suppliers in the US. The successful transfer of Japanese work and production organization in these ‘transplants’ suggests that Japanese production practices are organizational forms which can be uncoupled from Japanese culture and transferred to other countries.     

Looking East: diffusing high performance work practices in the southern Afro-Asian context

Most cross-cultural international human resource management (IHRM) literature contains instructive comparative analyses of East Asian and Western countries and lessons from Japanese best operating practice. There is a paucity of literature extending this debate to the African context and of comparative IHRM work between East Asia and African countries. This article fills a contextual gap in offering a comparative analysis of diffusion and adoption of high performance work practices from East Asia in southern African firms. The continued relevance of 'context' is critically evaluated, given powerful forces for convergence in the global economy. However, much of the debate on the convergence/divergence framework appears to neglect process dynamics and cross-vergence in the development and implementation of hybrid practices as well as reverse diffusion. This article highlights the importance of considering certain variables of local distinctiveness and diversity as features of the notion of cross-vergence which shape particular human resource practices.     

Japanese management and labor relations in US subsidiaries

Here the author surveys Japanese executives and American workers in Japanese subsidiaries in the US. American employees welcome Japanese labor practices which increase employment stability, cash wages and individual leverage, but oppose those requiring collective behaviour and loyalty to the firm.     

Coping with an emerging market competition through strategy-human resource alignment: case study evidence from five leading Japanese manufacturers in the People's Republic of China

This paper documents how PRC-based Japanese affiliates can align their human resource management (HRM) policies and practices with their business strategies based on in-depth interview surveys of the five leading Japanese manufacturers in China. In particular, using a multiple-informant research design to interview both top and human resource managers in each site, the study has attempted to clarify the strategic fit between the business strategies pursued and HRM practices adopted in China. Our interviews with top management for each affiliate revealed three types of business strategies that the PRC-based affiliates adopt to gain competitiveness in the Chinese market. Separate interviews with HR managers further clarified that affiliates' HRM efforts are aligned with the strategy each affiliate is pursuing. The findings are used to suggest several hypothesized relationships between the particular strategies pursued and the HRM practices adopted in China. Furthermore, this study has provided some important insights as to how the choice of affiliate-level business strategies in China affects the ‘hybridization’ processes of the HRM policies and practices used in the cross-national business environment.     

The organization and relative productivity of Japanese and American industry

This paper compares the structure and productivity of Japanese and American firms. We construct a simple model of labor shares in which the ratio of labor payments to sales is the product of labor's share in take added and the degree of integration. According to Japanese and United States census data, labor shares in value added are fairly similar for Japanese and American firms, whereas the average degree of integration, and therefore the average ratio of payroll to sales of Japanese firms, is distinctly lower than that of their American counterparts, particularly in the machinery and equipment industries. From survey data on Japanese firms in California, we observed payroll-sales ratios that generally lie between values reported for Japan and the United Slates for the machinery and equipment industries. Assuming that Japanese firms in California employ the same technology as their US counterparts, we conclude that the average degree of integration of Japanese firms in California is at least 10% lower. As a result, even though the gross labor productivity of typical Japanese firms in the United States generally, and California in particular, is slightly higher, the former may well be less productive than the latter in terms of net lalmr productivity, measured by value added. While further corroboration is needed, it appears that differences in the extent of integration are an important factor that accounts for reported productivity difference between the two countries.     

Theoretical implications from the case of performance-based human resource management practices in Japan: management fashion,institutionalization and strategic human resource management perspectives

In Japan, a new type of human resource management (HRM) practices called ‘performance-based HRM practices’ (seika-shugi in Japanese) emerged in the 1990s, and has been adopted by many Japanese firms. In this paper, I illustrate how these type of practices emerged as a management fashion, diffused across a large number of Japanese firms, and became institutionalized in the Japanese business context; and discuss the relationship between performance-based HRM practices and firm performance. This illustration is used to develop a theoretical framework to better understand the relationship between HRM practices and firm performance by integrating theories of management fashions, institutionalization and strategic HRM. Suggestions for future research are also discussed.     

Reversing the Translation Flow: Moving Organizational Practices from Japan to the U.S.

Building on the neo-institutional organizational translation approach and on interlingual translation studies, we undertake an historical case study of the movement of Japanese organizational practices to the USA from the 1970s through the mid-1990s. Both American and Japanese translators struggled to bring Japanese management models into the USA, reversing the dominant translation flow and bridging wide differences between the sending and receiving contexts. We use the translation ecology approach to look at the interactions over time between translators, translations, and translation processes studied separately in much translation research. Our paper makes two contributions to research on organizational translation. First, it develops more precise and theoretically-based categorizations of the elements of translation ecology – translators, translations, and translation processes. Second, it challenges the generalizability of the decontextualization/disembedding and recontextualization/re-embedding processes that are widely accepted as a necessary process in moving management models and practices across contexts.     

Human resource practices and performance of mergers and acquisitions in Israel

An extensive body of literature has investigated financial and strategic variables as predictors of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) performance without finding clear relationships. This paper proposes a knowledge-based view of acquisitions and suggests that to enhance M&A performance acquirers must use human resources (HR) practices that develop integration capabilities during post-merger integration. The paper explains the specific effects of HR practices in M&A in Israel, a country that serves as a microcosm for developed Western countries.