Hoshin Kanri: Policy Management In Japanese‐Owned UK Subsidiaries

Barry J. Witcher and Rosemary Butterworth

Journal of Management Studies, 2001, vol. 38, issue 5, 651-674

Abstract: This paper presents the findings from an ESRC two‐year research project about Hoshin Kanri (policy management). Hoshin Kanri is a form of corporate‐wide management that combines strategic management and operational management by linking the achievement of top management goals with daily management at an operation level. The research explored practice in real time in three Japanese manufacturing UK‐based subsidiaries. This paper consists of: an introductory review of the Hoshin Kanri and Japanization literature; a description of the research and a presentation of the three case studies and the main specific issues; and a discussion of the model and the parts played by lean working and TQM, catchball and nemawashi, strategic management, and the uniqueness of Hoshin Kanri, especially in relation to conventional planning, MBO (management by objectives), and the balanced scorecard. Hoshin Kanri is found to be an organizing framework for policy‐based objectives. These are translated into QCDE (quality, cost, delivery, education) targets which are used in daily management to drive progress. Hoshin Kanri employs a participative approach to developing and deploying objectives, and is driven by a process of review. Hoshin Kanri must be managed as a process. Some of the main issues include changes in organization and personnel, problems with administering periodic review, and cross‐functional working in departmental forms of organization.

Date: 2001
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6486.00253

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:38:y:2001:i:5:p:651-674

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... s.asp?ref=00022-2380

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Management Studies is currently edited by Timothy Clark, Steven W. Floyd and Mike Wright

More articles in Journal of Management Studies from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().