Networks, Markets, and the Pacific Rim: Studies in Strategy (Japan Business and Economics Series)

Despite the negative press Asian economies have received in connection with the recent financial crisis, their record of spectacular growth over the past few decades remains irrefutable. In an effort to provide a rich, textured analysis of these economies, editor W. Mark Fruin presents a collection of essays that explores the wide range of network organizations that have been established in the Pacific Rim. Conventional studies of economic organization have tended to center on markets and hierarchies, the two forms of organization most common in the West. But today the world moves too quickly and too unpredictably for the idealized organizations of microeconomic theory to keep up. It is no accident that the region that has generated the world's most explosive economic growth is also the region where network organizations--sets of independent actors who cooperate frequently for mutual advantage--are most pervasive. Rapid economic, social, and technical changes favor the formation of network organizations, and vice versa. The contributors to this volume identify and elucidate four basic types of networks: naturally occurring networks, market replacing networks, hierarchy replacing networks, and market enhancing networks. They show how all of these have been shaped by the history, government, legal system, and culture of each country under consideration. These network organizations allow the authors to compare and contrast network forms in China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States according to features such as degrees of formalization, rule definition, and market conformance. The works collected here make an important contribution to a networks-markets- hierarchies framework that recognizes and emphasizes the diversity of organizational forms and behaviors. A unique resource for scholars and professionals in the fields of management and economics, this book enables a complex analysis of one of the world's fastest growing and most theoretically challenging regions. Despite The Negative Press Asian Economies Have Received In Connection With The Recent Financial Crisis, Their Record Of Spectacular Growth Over The Past Few Decades Remains Irrefutable. In An Effort To Provide A Rich, Textured Analysis Of These Economies, Editor W. Mark Fruin Presents A Collection Of Essays That Explores The Wide Range Of Network Organizations That Have Been Established In The Pacific Rim. Analyzing Pacific Rim Networks And Markets: An Introduction / W. Mark Fruin -- Unbroken Ties: Comparing Personal Business Networks Cross-nationally / Howard E. Aldrich And Tomoaki Sankano -- Entrepreneurial Networking Organizations: Cases, Taxonomy, And Paradoxes / Toshihiro Kanai -- The Embedded Broker State: Social Networks And Political Organization In Japan / Jeffrey Broadbent And Yoshito Ishio -- Trust And Commitment As Alternative Responses To Social Uncertainty / Toshio Yamagishi And Midori Yamagishi -- The Work Of Networks In Taiwan's Export Fashion Shoe Industry / You-tein Hsing -- Education As A Source Of Network, Signal, Or Nepotism: Managers And Engineers During Japan's Industrial Development / Hiroyuki Odagiri. Making Things Clique: Cartels, Coalitions, And Institutional Structure In The Tsukiji Wholesale Seafood Market / Theodore C. Bester -- Patterns Of Asia Network Capitalism: The Case Of Taiwan And South Korea / Gary G. Hamilton -- Japanese Corporate Boards And The Role Of Bank Directors / Paul Sheard -- To Sue Or Keiretsu: A Comparison Of Partnering In The United States And Japan / Jeffrey H. Dyer -- Governance, Managed Competition, And Network Organization At A Toshiba Factory / W. Mark Fruin -- The Limits Of Autarky: Regional Networks And Industrial Adaptation In Silicon Valley And Route 128 / Annalee Saxenian -- Structural Analysis Of Japanese Economic Organization: A Conceptural Framework / Michael L. Gerlach And James R. Lincoln. Edited By W. Mark Fruin. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Although the world is large and human behavior diverse, there are just a few basic ways of getting things done organizationally.