Evolving China Strategies: How the Japanese Compare

John Ritchie

Asia Pacific Business Review, 1997, vol. 3, issue 3, 132-147

Abstract: The recent designation of China as a global factory-cum-marketplace that might better suit the prevailing world order poses vital questions about both. At the very least, observers should question how differing international trade and business approaches towards China might evolve and compare, given the prospects ahead. This study examines various historical Japanese approaches towards trade and business with China, and puts forward the following four-fold typology of modes: classic trader-merchanting, imperial-militarist, civil-nationalist, and strategic-managerial. It is argued that the strategic-managerial mode is still emerging but that it presupposes rising Japanese intent, and corresponding Chinese support, for going beyond bilateral trade towards increasing organization and direct investment to China and better management within the country. The detail of this emerging mode remains provisional upon the realization of its full scope and potential, but it may be differentiated from Western European approaches not just by the relative volumes of aid, trade and investment, but also through the extent of organizational coupling and managerial sustainability. Western European investors in particular might observe how Japanese firms learn from China, as well as what, and thereby better prepare themselves for major changes ahead.

Date: 1997
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DOI: 10.1080/13602389700000008

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