Informational network industrialization and Japanese business management

Linking informational network and organizational change theories with the multi‐faceted transformations taking place in global competition, in particular the economic recession in the Asia‐Pacific and information technological progress, the paper focuses on two major issues: first, the task facing Japanese companies in accommodating themselves to new trends pushed ahead primarily by changes emerging in the info‐communications industries. It is demonstrated that major challenges are facing Japanese‐style organization and management practices along with the advent of informational network industrialization. Essentially, Japanese business networks are forced to transform their organizational structure in conjunction with open networking and management practices. Second, the paper focusses on the impact of the economic slump in Asia on the strategies and management of Japanese production networks in the region. It is argued that impending domestic restructuring will extend in much the same way to the Asian production networks, while integrating these into new types of international production complexes.