The Globalization of Japanese Manufacturing Corporations

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper discusses recent shifts in the overseas investment strategies of Japan's major multinational manufacturing companies (MNCs). Based on a survey of twenty corporations it is postulated that the move towards the globalization of these companies has taken place in three distinct but overlapping phases: (1) a linear link‐up to Japan, (2) a transition stage, based upon international specialization and‘mesh’strategies, and (3) a tetra‐polar strategic division of the world. The paper commences with a discussion of recent trends in MNC behavior, and then shows how overseas corporate organization has changed in the Japanese firms surveyed, especially after 1985. The implications of these changes among the major global regions is examined. The paper concludes with an assessment of whether the strategies of Japanese MNCs have converged with those. of United States or European MNCs, and to what degree they have retained their own distinctive attributes.

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