The Japanese Style of Production Management — in Britain

For many years, the achievements of Japanese industry were regarded in Britain as remarkable, enviable perhaps, but essentially irrelevant. The arguments always put forward by British managers to dismiss the possibility of learning from Japan were that Japanese workers, Japanese industrial relations, and many features of Japanese social life, were fundamentally different from British, and were essential to the success of Japanese manufacturing methods. With the arrival of Japanese manufacturing subsidiaries in Britain, many of which appear to be flourishing, those arguments have become weaker and British management has begun to look at the Japanese management approach with a more appreciative and acquisitive eye.