The Dynamics of Interfirm Relationships

This book provides an authoritative study of interfirm and supplier relationships in leading Japanese industries, which thoroughly disrupts existing cultural stereotypes by pursuing a carefully crafted evolutionary and comparative perspective combined with compelling original research'

- Geoffrey Jones, Harvard Business School, USThe goal of this path-breaking volume is to relativize the experience of Japanese industries in terms of both location and time, exploring its similarities and differences with other countries and its unique relationship with the global standard of company performance set by US firms. Yongdo Kim looks beyond organizational principles, overturns stereotypes, and covers a wide range of industries. In particular, this book focuses on the intertwining of the market principle and the organizational principle in interfirm relationships among the steel, machine tool, integrated circuit and liquid-crystal display materials industries, concluding that there is no such thing as 'Japanese uniqueness' in the history of interfirm relationships.

This book compares several intermediate product industries within a global context to offer insights into the studies of businesses across the globe. Numerous interviews with key individuals in the Japanese steel, integrated circuit and machine tool industries offer unique and illuminating information. This analysis covers a broad range of firms by examining the relationships within large companies as well as smaller corporations.

This fresh and varied analysis is a critical resource for both business practitioners and scholars of business history, business strategy, industrial marketing, product development management, and economic history.