Patterns of japanese strategy: Strategic combinations of strategies

Norman P. Smothers

Strategic Management Journal, 1990, vol. 11, issue 7, 521-533

Abstract: Japan's ‘miracle’ is an ongoing, evolving one. Along with the explosive rise of Japan's economic fortunes the number of theories about the business strategy of Japan's most successful firms, her Kaisha, is also exploding. The focus here is not on individual building‐block strategic patterns but on: (1) linkages between the patterns, and (2) how (and why) some patterns may be combined to create even greater advantage. At the level of the firm a few basic themes are discussed and roughly modeled as a sequence, a ‘pattern of patterns’. It is argued that (in retrospect) several patterns of Japanese strategy have been (to differing degrees in different firms) parts of a larger, synergistic, internally logical, and powerful synthesis. The point is that additional strategic advantages can emerge for firms which think about how to link together strategic patterns. Evidence is offered illustrating these arguments and demonstrating one way Japanese patterns combine to form an integrated strategy.

Date: 1990
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