Show Me the Money

―Japan's Most Profitable Companies and the Global Supply Chain―

September 20, 2011 6:30 PM (finished)


Ulrike Schaede

(Professor of Japanese Business at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS), at the University of California San Diego)

Date/Time September 20, 2011 6:30 PM
Location First Meeting Room (Daiichi Kaigi Shitsu), Main Building, Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo. PLEASE NOTE: NOT THE USUAL ROOM--TWO MINUTE WALK AWAY [map]
Abstract The most interesting Japanese companies are no longer those that mass-produce high-quality consumer end products. In their stead, leadership in technology and success in terms of profitability have shifted to companies that excel in input components and materials, but many of these companies are unknown. Schaede introduces comparative data on profitability between the US and Japan for the 2000s, and explores the most profitable firms in Japan. Interviews with these companies lead to an identification of their strategy and management practices. These stand in stark contrast with Old Japan management approaches. A better understanding of New Japan companies is necessary to grasp Japan's important role in the global supply chain of many high-tech products.
Bio Ulrike Schaede is Professor of Japanese Business at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS), at the University of California San Diego. Areas of expertise include Japan's corporate strategy, government-business relationships, antitrust and financial markets. Her current research projects concern the strategic repositioning of Japanese companies to assume leadership in 21st century technologies, corporate restructuring, changing human resource practices and entrepreneurship in Japan. Her latest book Choose and Focus: Japanese Business Strategies for the 21st Century (Cornell UP, 2008) argues that Japan's business organization has undergone a strategic inflection point so fundamental that our existing knowledge of Japanese business practices is no longer adequate for a full understanding of Japan.