Shifting Boundaries of the Firm

Mari Sako is Professor of International Business at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. An international expert on Japanese business, she has published widely on the issues of global coroporate strategy, comparative business systems, and human resource management. Her recent books include Are Skills the Answer? The Political Economy of Skill Creation in Advanced Industrial Countries (with Colin Crouch and Donald Finegold, OUP, 1999) and Japanese Labour and Management in Transition: Diversity, Flexibilyt and Participation (edited with Hiroki Sato, Routledge, 1997).

• Introduction ; 1. Strategy, Structure, and Institutions of Management and Labour ; 2. From Factory to Enterprise, from Enterprise to Corporate Group ; 3. Strategy and Structure at Matsushita Group ; 4. Strategy and Structure at Toyota Group ; 5. Inter-Industry Differences: Criteria fro Union Boundary Decisions ; 6. Intra-Industry Differences I: Why Companies Differ ; 7. Intra-Industry Differencesx II: Why Unions Differ ; 8. Harmonization vs. Differentiation, Employment Security vs. Labour Flexibility ; Conclusions ; Appendix: List of Interviews

Blending economic and sociological analysis, Sako updates our understanding of what is happening today inside Japan's corporations and labor unions. This fascinating book is required reading for anyone interested in modern Japan or the varieties of capitalism that exist in our global world.