Books

This is a wise book about management, not another book about miracles from the Orient. Masaaki Imai believes that in corporate races the turtles can still beat the hares if they become smarter competitors. But they have to work at management to win. Why break your rule about not reading another book on Japanese management? For one thing, Kaizen is not just about Japanese management. Masaaki Imai writes about “management” in its fullest sense—how to make best use of all the resources in a company to set desirable objectives and then attain them. He bases his work on his long familiarity with business in the U.S. as well as Japan, and like much of Peter Drucker's work, it makes simple sense. Finally, it's about people and how to stimulate them to make their best contributions to corporate success. Perhaps the greatest hazard to its acceptance will be the response, “I already knew that!” But if that's true, why do so few executives really practice these things?