Beating Japan: How Hundreds of American Companies Are Beating Japan Now - Hardcover

Deserving wider readership than among those whose business is in direct competition with Japan, this guide to restructuring American manufacturing concerns highlights customer relations. "You can focus, and share your customer's goals. Or you can work to your own internal agenda, and watch your business vanish," state the authors, New York City businessmen and analysts in the information technology industry. Concrete suggestions include closing corporate headquarters and moving all operations to regional sales offices and, every quarter, eliminating 5% of products in least demand. The authors suggest that the Japanese can be bested by competitors who reduce diversification, decentralize authority and maintain close contact with customers. While some of the information-technology terms are bewildering, the authors' thesis, comprehensive research (much of it done in Japan) and crisp prose bolster their valuable advice to business managers, whether their competition is a Japanese giant, K mart at the local mall or the Busy Bee Cafe on the corner.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Drawing on their business experiences dealing with Japanese firms, the authors offer numerous insights, strategies, and examples that American companies can adopt to beat their Japanese competitors. They indicate that Japanese corporate game plans of the 1980s have gone off track and that many companies have lost sight of the importance of the customer. To help American businesspeople take advantage of this situation, McInerney and White outline four counterstrategies. While some of their examples may be weak on proven and substantiated facts and full of business cliches, the authors supply a wealth of practical ways for American firms to compete successfully with the Japanese or anyone else (e.g., the regenerated European Community). For specialized business collections.
- Joseph W. Leonard, Miami Univ., Oxford, Ohio
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.