A Cultural Perspective For The Exploration Into Changes Of Japanese Enterprise System

Chapter I gives a brief introduction of the title selection background, paperboard,investigation status at present, methodology, basic structure, major originalities andweakpoints of the dissertation.Chapter II first gives a definition of culture and institution, with an analysis of therelationship between the two, and then makes an definite elaboration of the definition,composition and effection on enterprise system, which making a synthetical use ofviewpoints including sociology, philosophy and economics.Chapter III emphatically discusses the rationale behind the fact that culture has aninfluence on changes of enterprise system, including four respects, institution’s ethicalpursuit and value judgement, path dependence theory in institution change theory,game theory and institutional performance under the influence of cultural tradition.Chapter IV first makes an analysis of the core value issue that the enterprisesystem need to deal with, then after generalizing and summarizing core cultureelements that have an influence on changes of enterprise system, includingcollectivism, rank order, secularism，shame culture and gratitude doctrine, proposesthe particularized functional routes of enterprise system changes under the influenceof cultural tradition from five respects, which are as follows, value conduction path,self-correcting path, game evolvement path, compatible mutagenesis path and changelock-in path. At last, this chapter discusses the issues how the Japanese enterprisesystem model formed under the influence of cultural tradition.Chapter V explores the relationship between cultural influences and the evolutionand performance of pyramid monopoly system in Japan, which is set forth from threeperiods, institution’s importing and adaptive change: the formation and developmentof pre-war zaibatsu system in Japan, imperative transition: the American reform to the zaibatsu system in post-war Japan, adaptive evolution: the revival of zaibatsu andfoundation of the new pyramid monopoly system. In this chapter, from acomprehensive historical review, we strive to explore the cultural roots that runthrough the change of pyramid monopoly system.Chapter VI gives a reversion and explanation of the process that employmentsystem in Japan changed under the influence of cultural tradition, and then explainsthe formation of Japanese national employment system, estimates the performance ofemployment system for various periods at last, Which is expounded as follows:familism management: the initiatory formation of Japanese employment, wartimelabor control: the change of employment system under the power intervention,lifetime employment: the continuation and development of Japanese employment.Chapter VII mainly makes a historical investigation of the enterprise systemincluding main bank system, insides controlling structure, internal promotion system,the fact that governance mechanism departs from the Companies Acts, with thepurpose to reveal the vital regulation effects of cultural tradition acting on theformation of the internal and closed corporate governance in Japan, and estimate theperformance of the system innovation which is to internalize the external governance.Chapter VIII fist discusses a mismatch created in Japanese enterprise system bythe changes in the business environment since1990s, with the accelerating effects ofcultural tradition to the mismatch emphasized. Then this chapter dissects theunderlying cultural reasons of the phenomenon that convergence and inertia areinterwoven and conflicting. At last, three system innovation and Performanceoptimization paths of Japanese enterprise system are proposed as follows: promotingimprovement and innovation of the traditional culture, making induced andimperative transition to intermingle, achieving the aim that external legal regulationand Internal business objectives can be adjusted and integrated.Chapter IX gives a comprehensive overview about research conclusion of thisthesis based on the research achievements received in the previous chapters. In thischapter, the generalizations of enterprise system changes under the influence ofcultural tradition are raised. Following these conclusions and laws, we have a rethink of the cultural roots leading to a inefficiency of Chinese enterprise system, withhighly individualized suggestions of enterprise system innovation in Chinese culturecontext.The main opinions of the dissertation are as follows:First, enterprise system contains ethics value pursuits. The pursuits are mainlyembodied with rules and regulations in use of dealing with the central issues asfollows: whose enterprise-whose interest is the enterprise for? the goal ofbusiness-what is the concrete interest the enterprise pursues? core principal part ofinterest-how does the enterprise distribute and balance interest? relationship betweenenterprises-how do the enterprises cooperate and compete based on interest?management activities-how does the enterprise acquire interest? etc. Different valueorientation can breed enterprise systems of all shapes and sizes, in spite of dealingwith the same central interest issue.Second, fundamental value orientation in Japan is composed of collectivism, rankorder, secularism，shame culture and gratitude doctrine. While Japanese enterprisesystem is developing, traditional cultural values working from value conduction path,self-correcting path, game evolvement path, compatible mutagenesis path and changelock-in path, have supported the continuation of pyramid monopoly system in Japan,promoted the formation and staying of Japanese national employment system, driventhe system innovation internalizing the external governance, led to the dilemma ofJapanese enterprise system changes, and bred the different performance of Japaneseenterprise system in different periods.Third, any enterprise system needs the cultural environment to support itsoperation. Because of the differences between national cultures, a ripe enterprisesystem of a country can’t be transplanted simply to another having a different culturalenvironment. It is a conclusion that a successful and efficient enterprise system canonly be formed by exploring and improving as a particular cultural environmentrequired. So we must consider fully of people’s comprehension, expectation andadaptability when we want to study and profit from advanced enterprise system ofdeveloped country and area. An accommodation to make the transplanted system compatible with the country’s cultural environment is a must.Forth, the culture has double impacts on changes and performance of enterprisesystem. Culture that once made a great improvement of economic and socialdevelopment is likely to turn into its opposite with the change of external conditions,which will hinder the change of system, accelerate the invalidation of system andleave the change of enterprise system in a inefficient lock-in dilemma. As what wehave seen, Japan is a typical one.Fifth, in order to get a tangible and revolutionary achievement about the changeof enterprise system, we must rethink culture defect and realize the crucial role thatculture plays in system change and system performance profoundly. Based on this, weshould increase tentacles into the most sensitive traditional culture and ethos to bringabout the improvement and innovation of culture value sense when pushing aheadwith formal system reform. Under the circumstances that existing culture value senseis incompatible with the demand of excellent and efficient enterprise system, it willlead to a result that the system performance can be improved in a short time but with adanger of economic system collapse, if the system should accommodate itself to thetraditional culture.The innovation of this dissertation mainly lies in the following three aspects: First,it gives a systematic and comprehensive carding of the historical change of enterprisesystem in Japan under the influence of distinctive culture since Meiji Reform; Second,the particularized functional routes of enterprise system changes under the influenceof cultural tradition are proposed from five respects, with pertinent institution changetheory and practice in Japan used as the basis; Third, the generalizations of enterprisesystem changes under the influence of cultural tradition are raised systematically.The contents that need to be deepened further are as follows: First, moderneconometrics method should be used to achieve a breakthrough on empirical research,aimed to give a better verification on the change performance of the enterprise systemunder the influence of the culture; Second, more exploration should be made, which isabout the interactive relationship between culture and system, and the content thatsystem influences the change of culture; Third, based on general rules on enterprise system change under the influence of culture, achieved by the research of thedissertation, more attention and exploration should be made on enterprise systeminnovation in Chinese culture context.