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9 - Employment system links

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2009

Mari Sako
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
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Summary

The next supporting national institution to be examined is the employment and industrial relations systems of Britain and Japan. It is argued in this chapter that (i) there is a close parallel between customer—supplier relations and employment relations in each country (a point noted by Dore (1983, p. 472) and Aoki (1988)); (ii) the similarities are due to logical links underlying parallel historical developments in the employment and subcontracting systems; and, more specifically, (iii) the functional flexibility and stability of the workforce at both supplier and customer companies in Japan have enabled the development of ‘competence trust’ and ‘goodwill trust’ which are indispensable in OCR-type customer—supplier relations.

Analogy between employment relations and supplier relations

At the risk of oversimplification, this section presents a stylised characterisation of the parallel between ‘organisation-oriented’ employment relations and OCR-type customer—supplier relations in Japan. In doing so, the contemporary Japanese situation is contrasted implicitly with a combination of ‘market-oriented’ employment relations and ACR-type customer—supplier relations which are the norm in Britain.

Community and association

The Japanese enterprise is ideally a community whose members, both workers and managers, work towards a shared goal to make it prosper. Factors promoting a sense of community include the stability of the membership due to the practice of lifetime employment and internal promotion, the company assuming the responsibility for providing welfare for its employees, and the enterprise union which reinforces the idea that workers' primary affiliation is with the firm rather than with their occupational group.

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Chapter
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Price, Quality and Trust
Inter-firm Relations in Britain and Japan
, pp. 190 - 204
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1992

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  • Employment system links
  • Mari Sako, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book: Price, Quality and Trust
  • Online publication: 30 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511520723.010
Available formats
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  • Employment system links
  • Mari Sako, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book: Price, Quality and Trust
  • Online publication: 30 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511520723.010
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Employment system links
  • Mari Sako, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book: Price, Quality and Trust
  • Online publication: 30 October 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511520723.010
Available formats
×