Transforming Buyer-Supplier Relations : Japanese-Style Industrial Practices in a Western Context

This study analyses the shift in the relationship between large and smaller firms from confrontation and conflict, to cooperation and mutual assistance. It charts the pace of the adaption of Japanese style buyer-supplier relations in North American and Western European organizations. Front Matter....Pages i-viii Buyer-Supplier Relations and Changes in Industrial Organization....Pages 1-18 Economic Change, Vertical Disintegration, and Buyer-Supplier Relations: Some Theoretical Considerations....Pages 19-39 Vertical Disintegration and New Forms of Work Organization: a Review of Empirical Evidence....Pages 40-61 Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK: Best Practice Under Pressure....Pages 62-92 Lucas Girling: New Practices, Old Constraints....Pages 93-118 Sony UK: Supplier Development and the Cooperative Ethos....Pages 119-142 IBM, UK: From Control to Collaboration?....Pages 143-162 Beyond Adversarialism: The Advent of New Supply Practices?....Pages 163-171 Back Matter....Pages 172-189