| Description |
xvi, 315 pages ; 24 cm |
| Series |
Cornell international industrial and labor relations report series ; no. 30 |
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Cornell international industrial and labor relations reports ; no. 30
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| Contents |
1. Introduction. Lean Production: The Issues. Lean Production and Industrial Relations. History: Critical and Comparative Approaches. A Specific Comparative Framework. Case Studies -- 2. Testing the Limits: Workers' Challenge (1945-1948). Revolution from the Top. Revolution in Labor Relations. Labor's Achievements. Shift in Alignments -- 3. The Japan-U.S. Business Alliance: Capital Retaliates (1948-1951). Public Sector Attacked. The Employer Offensive (1948-1950). The Effects on the Labor Movement. The Ironies of Anticommunism -- 4. Forms and Substance of Labor-Management Relations (1951-1955). Nikkeiren and the Managerial Arena. Resurgent Unionism. Sohyo: Splits and Shunto -- 5. Institutions Emerge: Tensions, Limits, and Challenges (1955-1959). Signs and Sources of Conflict. New Standards in Industrial Relations. Labor Market Segmentation. Contesting Visions -- 6. Lean Production and the Quality Movement: Suzuki and Toyota. The Suzuki Regime. Lean Production: Toyota |
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The Quality Control Movement and Taylorism -- 7. Miike 1960: The Limits of Coercion. Prelude to Confrontation: Production Politics and the Energy Crisis. Phase One: Isolation and Division. Phase Two: Breakaway Union. Phase Three: Nationwide Mobilization. Phase Four: Summer Showdown -- 8. High-Speed Growth and Unequal Development. Uneven Development: Ascent of the Automobile Industry. Uneven Development: The Decline of Coal. The Public Sector: Moriguchi City. Hegemony and High-Speed Growth -- 9. Conclusion. Case Studies: Variations in Workplace Regimes. Postwar History: Conflict and Compromise. Labor and Postwar Industrial Relations. Lean Production |
| Summary |
The postwar miracle, says John Price, made Japan and its corporations the toast of the global village, with scholars across the United States pointing to Japan as the model for future enterprise. The economic bubble burst, however, in 1989, and Price documents difficulties that have surfaced since that time. In Japan itself, the common self-assessment is "rich country, poor people," and government reports regularly criticize society for being too enterprising. In emulating Japan, Price asks, are we choosing a path Japan itself is rejecting? Price probes the paradoxes in postwar labor-management relations, particularly in the years between 1945 and 1975. Basing his analysis on the history of labor in Mitsui's Miike mine in Kyushu, Suzuki Motors in Hamamatsu, and Moriguchi City Hall, the author questions the common interpretation that industrial relations are based on lifetime jobs, seniority-based wages, and enterprise unions. He also asks whether Japanese workers have been genuinely empowered by the developments in recent years. In his description of the rough-and-tumble world of postwar Japanese industrial relations, Price pays particular attention to the Occupation period, the rise of Shunto, the increase in industrial conflict before 1975, and the transition to generalized labor-management cooperation. Relying on French regulation theory and on Michael Burawoy's concept of production regimes, Price suggests a revisionist interpretation of the transformation of Japan's political economy, offering new insights into the rise of lean production and the quality movement in Japan |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [295]-305) and index |
| Subject |
Automobile industry and trade -- Japan.
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Employee empowerment -- Japan.
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Industrial management -- Japan.
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Industrial relations -- Japan.
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Quality control -- Japan.
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| SUBJECT |
Japan -- Foreign economic relations -- United States.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008115624
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United States -- Foreign economic relations -- Japan.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2007100195
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| LC no. |
96008953 |
| ISBN |
0801432855 (alk. paper) |
|
0801483603 (paperback: alk. paper) |
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