Turning Japanese ! < Part-7 / Japanese Management : Art and Practice > ...

Indeed, in some ways the world is becoming more like Japan, not less so. Even the most successful Western companies can no longer dominate entire markets in the way that General Motors or I.B.M. once did; they are also finding that they have ever less time to make money out of a new product.

By contrast, the best Japanese firms are used to overcrowded markets and instant imitation. Japan has nine car companies compared with America's three. Nothing remains secret in Japan for long: word leaks out at school reunions and through meetings with suppliers. Japanese firms have always lived in a world of "hyper-competition," as some management thinkers have called it.

This is no time to go back to the crude Japan worship of the early 80's, with "Quality Circles," morning calisthenics and thrice-yearly pilgrimages to Toyota City. Japanese companies are too bloated, and too weak at the type of "off the wall" thinking that seems to characterize America's most inventive companies.

But they are clearly learning fast, under the tutelage of men like Mr. Kobayashi, Mr. Makihara and Mr. Ohmae, and there are some things that they do much better than their rivals in the West.

As Westerners have learned in the past, it is always worth keeping at least one eye on the East.