Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Culture, meaning, and institutions: Executive rationale in Germany and Japan

  • Article
  • Published:
Journal of International Business Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper contributes rare primary empirical evidence to one of the major research questions in the social sciences today, namely, the linkage between national cultures and institutional structures of national business systems. Drawing on the work of Redding, we explore the thinking, or “rationale”, of senior executives of leading German and Japanese firms about the ideal structure of the economy. We find considerable variation in rationale across the two countries and in comparison with the shape of the business system of the United States. Our study has implications for our understanding of the meaning of economic activity in different countries and of the evolutionary trajectories of national business systems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Readers will note that we are following standard ethnographic practice in retaining expression as close as possible to the original, whether grammatically or stylistically correct or not.

  2. South Korea provides a good example of how top-down, exclusive decision-making contributes to belligerence in company unions.

  3. We do not include in this discussion the construct of “crossvergence” (Ralston et al., 1993, 1997) because the definition of crossvergence seems to be so encompassing that virtually any outcome can qualify as crossvergence (Witt, 2008).

References

  • Aguilera, R. V., & Jackson, G. 2003. The cross-national diversity of corporate governance: Dimensions and determinants. Academy of Management Review, 28 (3): 447–465.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aguilera, R. V., Filatotchev, I., Gospel, H., & Jackson, G. 2008. An organizational approach to comparative corporate governance: Costs, contingencies, and complementarities. Organization Science, 19 (3): 475–492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ahmadjian, C. L., & Robbins, G. E. 2005. A clash of capitalisms: Foreign shareholders and corporate restructuring in 1990s Japan. American Sociological Review, 70 (3): 451–471.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Albert, M. 1993. Capitalism vs. capitalism: How America's obsession with individual achievement and short-term profit has led it to the brink of collapse. New York: Four Wall Eight Windows.

    Google Scholar 

  • Altheide, D. L. 1987. Ethnographic content analysis. Qualitative Sociology, 10 (1): 65–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amable, B. 2003. The diversity of modern capitalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Banerjee, M., Capozzoli, M., McSweeney, L., & Sinha, D. 1999. Beyond kappa: A review of interrater agreement measures. Canadian Journal of Statistics, 27 (1): 3–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beinhocker, E. D. 2005. The origin of wealth: Evolution, complexity, and the radical remaking of economics. London: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. 1966. The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biggart, N. W., & Delbridge, R. 2004. Systems of exchange. Academy of Management Review, 29 (1): 28–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biggart, N. W., & Guillén, M. F. 1999. Developing difference: Social organization and the rise of the auto industries of South Korea, Taiwan, Spain, and Argentina. American Sociological Review, 64 (5): 722–747.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boddewyn, J. J., & Brewer, T. L. 1994. International-business political behavior: New theoretical directions. Academy of Management Review, 19 (1): 119–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bond, M. H., Leung, K., Au, A., Tong, K.-K., de Carrasquel, S. R., Murakami, F., Yamaguchi, S. et al. 2004. Culture-level dimensions of social axioms and their correlates across 41 countries. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35 (5): 548–570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. 1977. Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Boyer, R. 1997. French statism at the crossroads. In C. Crouch & W. Streeck (Eds), Political economy of modern capitalism: Mapping convergence and diversity: 71–101. London: Sage Publications.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Boyer, R. 2004. New growth regimes, but still institutional diversity. Socio-Economic Review, 2 (1): 1–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Branscomb, L. M., Kodama, F., & Florida, R. (Eds) 1999. Industrializing knowledge: University–industry linkages in Japan and the United States. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braudel, F. 1982. The wheels of commerce. London: Collins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breschi, S., & Malerba, F. (Eds) 2005. Clusters, networks and innovation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brouthers, K. D. 2002. Institutional, cultural and transaction cost influences on entry mode choice and performance. Journal of International Business Studies, 33 (2): 203–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buck, T., & Shahrum, A. 2005. The translation of corporate governance changes across national cultures: The case of Germany. Journal of International Business Studies, 36 (1): 42–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calori, R., Johnson, G., & Sarnin, P. 1994. CEOs' cognitive maps and the scope of the organization. Strategic Management Journal, 15 (6): 437–457.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. 1960. A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20 (1): 37–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corporate Women Directors International. 1998. 1998 CWDI report: Women board directors of Japanese companies. Washington, DC: GlobeWomen.

  • Crossland, C., & Hambrick, D. C. 2007. How national systems differ in their constraints on corporate executives: A study of CEO effects in three countries. Strategic Management Journal, 28 (8): 767–789.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crouch, C., & Streeck, W. (Eds) 1997. Political economy of modern capitalism: Mapping convergence and diversity. London: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Culpepper, P. D. 2001. Employers, public policy, and the politics of decentralized cooperation in Germany and France. In P. A. Hall & D. Soskice (Eds), Varieties of capitalism: The institutional foundations of comparative advantage: 275–306. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P. J., & Zukin, S. 1990. Structures of capital: The social organization of the economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Djelic, M.-L. 1998. Exporting the American model: The postwar transformation of European business. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dore, R. P. 2000. Stock market capitalism: Welfare capitalism: Japan and Germany versus the Anglo-Saxons. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Eden, L., & Miller, S. R. 2004. Distance matters: Liability of foreignness, institutional distance and ownership strategy. In M. A. Hitt & J. Cheng (Eds), Advances in international management, Vol. 16: 187–221. New York: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Estevez-Abe, M., Iversen, T., & Soskice, D. 2001. Social protection and the formation of skills: A reinterpretation of the welfare state. In P. A. Hall & D. Soskice (Eds), Varieties of capitalism: The institutional foundations of comparative advantage: 145–183. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fiss, P. C., & Zajac, E. J. 2004. The diffusion of ideas over contested terrain: The (non)adoption of a shareholder value orientation among German firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 49 (4): 501–534.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fligstein, N. 2001. The architecture of markets: An economic sociology of twenty-first-century capitalist societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geertz, C. 1973. The interpretation of cultures: Selected essays. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gellner, E. 1992. Reason and culture: The historical role of rationality and rationalism. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, A. 1988. The evolution of labor relations in Japan: Heavy industry, 1853–1955. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, A. 2002. A modern history of Japan: From Tokugawa times to the present. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greif, A. 2006. Institutions and the path to the modern economy: Lessons from medieval trade. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Guillén, M. F. 1994. Models of management: Work, authority, and organization in a comparative perspective. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guillén, M. F. 2001. The limits of convergence: Globalization and organizational change in Argentina, South Korea, and Spain. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guthrie, D. 1999. Dragon in a three-piece suit: The emergence of capitalism in China. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, P. A., & Soskice, D. 2001. An introduction to varieties of capitalism. In P. A. Hall & D. Soskice (Eds), Varieties of capitalism: The institutional foundations of comparative advantage: 1–68. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Henisz, W. J. 2002. Politics and international investment: Measuring risks and protecting profits. London: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hicks, D. 1993. University–industry research links in Japan. Policy Sciences, 26 (4): 361–395.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirschman, A. O. 1970. Exit, voice, and loyalty: Responses to decline in firms, organizations, and states. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirschmeier, J., & Yui, T. 1981. The development of Japanese business, 1600–1980, (2nd ed.). London: G. Allen & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hitt, M. A., Dacin, M. T., Tyler, B. B., & Park, D. 1997. Understanding the differences in Korean and US executives' strategic orientations. Strategic Management Journal, 18 (2): 159–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W., & Gupta, V. (Eds). 2004. Culture, leadership, and organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 societies. London: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, G. 2005. Stakeholders under pressure: Corporate governance and labour management in Germany and Japan. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 13 (3): 419–428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, G., & Deeg, R. 2008. Comparing capitalisms: Understanding institutional diversity and its implications for international business. Journal of International Business Studies, 39 (4): 540–561.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James, J. A., & Thomas, M. (Eds) 1994. Capitalism in context: Essays on economic development and cultural change in honor of R.M. Hartwell. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, C. 1982. MITI and the Japanese miracle: The growth of industrial policy 1925–1975. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, E. L. 1981. The European miracle: Environments, economies, and geopolitics in the history of Europe and Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, C. 1983. The future of industrial societies: Convergence of continuing diversity? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, C., Dunlop, J. T., Harbison, F. H., & Myers, C. A. 1960. Industrialism and industrial man: The problems of labor and management in economic growth. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, G., Keohane, R. O., & Verba, S. 1994. Designing social inquiry: Scientific inference in qualitative research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkman, B. L., Lowe, K. B., & Gibson, C. B. 2006. A quarter century of Culture's Consequences: A review of empirical research incorporating Hofstede's cultural values framework. Journal of International Business Studies, 37 (3): 285–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Komiya, R., Okuno, M., & Suzumura, K. (Eds) 1988. Industrial policy in Japan. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kostova, T. 1999. Transnational transfer of strategic organizational practices: A contextual perspective. Academy of Management Review, 24 (2): 308–324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krippendorff, K. 2004. Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology, (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Landes, D. S. 1998. The wealth and poverty of nations: Why some are so rich and some so poor. New York: W. W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lazonick, W. 1991. Business organization and the myth of the market economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehrer, M. 2000. The organizational choice between evolutionary and revolutionary capability regimes: Theory and evidence from European air transport. Industrial and Corporate Change, 9 (3): 489–519.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, A. Y., & Kim, J. 2004. The nation state and culture as influences on organizational change and innovation. In M. S. Poole (Ed.), Handbook of organizational change and development: 324–353. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, A. Y., & Volberda, H. W. 1999. Prolegomena on coevolution: A framework for research on strategy and new organizational forms. Organization Science, 10 (5): 519–534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, A. Y., Long, C. P., & Carroll, T. N. 1999. The coevolution of new organizational forms. Organization Science, 10 (5): 535–550.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loick, A. 2005. Noch keine Chancengleichheit [No equality of opportunities yet]. http://www.goethe.de/ges/wrt/thm/fau/de533598.htm. Accessed 25 October 2007.

  • Mannheim, K. 1936. Ideology and utopia: An introduction to the sociology of knowledge. New York: Harcourt, Brace, & World.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mares, I. 2001. Firms and the welfare state: When, why, and how does social policy matter to employers? In P. A. Hall & D. Soskice (Eds), Varieties of capitalism: The institutional foundations of comparative advantage: 184–212. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Marx, K. 1967. Capital. New York: International Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, K. E. 2001. Institutions, transaction costs, and entry mode choice in Eastern Europe. Journal of International Business Studies, 32 (2): 357–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, B. 1966. The social origins of dictatorship and democracy: Lord and peasant in the making of the modern world. Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murmann, J. P. 2003. Knowledge and competitive advantage: The coevolution of firms, technology, and national institutions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • North, D. C. 1990. Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • North, D. C. 1994. Economic performance through time. American Economic Review, 84 (3): 359–368.

    Google Scholar 

  • North, D. C. 2005. Understanding the process of economic change. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Odagiri, H. 2006. Advance of science-based industries and the changing innovation system of Japan. In B.-A. Lundvall, P. Intarakumnerd, & J. Vang (Eds), Asia's innovation systems in transition: 200–226. London: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD. 2003. Literacy skills for the world of tomorrow: Further results from PISA 2000. Paris: OECD.

  • OECD. 2005. OECD science, technology and industry scoreboard. Paris: OECD.

  • OECD. 2006. Live longer, work longer. Paris: OECD.

  • OECD. 2007. OECD factbook. Paris: OECD.

  • Okimoto, D. I. 1989. Between MITI and the market: Japanese industrial policy for high technology. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, C. 1991. Strategic responses to institutional processes. Academy of Management Review, 16 (1): 145–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orrù, M., Biggart, N. W., & Hamilton, G. G. 1997. The economic organization of East Asian capitalism. London: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Sullivan, M. 2000. Contests for corporate control: Corporate governance and economic performance in the United States and Germany. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. R. 1978. The external control of organizations: A resource dependence perspective. New York: Harper & Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pieterse, J. N. 1994. Globalisation as hybridization. International Sociology, 9 (2): 161–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Popping, R. 1988. On agreements indices for nominal data. In W. E. Saris & I. N. Gallhofer (Eds), Sociometric research: Volume I, Data collection and scaling: 90–105. New York: St Martin's.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Quack, S., Morgan, G., & Whitley, R. (Eds) 2000. National capitalisms, global competition, and economic performance. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ragin, C. C. 1987. The comparative method. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ralston, D. A., Gustafson, D. J., Cheung, F., & Terpstra, R. H. 1993. Differences in managerial values: A study of US, Hong Kong and PRC managers. Journal of International Business Studies, 24 (2): 249–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ralston, D. A., Holt, D. H., Terpstra, R. H., & Yu, K.-C. 1997. The impact of national culture and economic ideology on managerial work values: A study of the United States, Russia, Japan, and China. Journal of International Business Studies, 28 (1): 177–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Redding, G. 2005. The thick description and comparison of societal systems of capitalism. Journal of International Business Studies, 36 (2): 123–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Redding, G., & Witt, M. A. 2007. The future of Chinese capitalism: Choices and chances. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Redding, S. G. 1990. The spirit of Chinese capitalism. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rohlen, T. P. 1974. For harmony and strength: Japanese white-collar organization in anthropological perspective. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rueda, D., & Pontusson, J. 2000. Wage inequality and varieties of capitalism. World Politics, 52 (3): 350–383.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sakakibara, M. 1997. Evaluating government-sponsored R&D consortia in Japan: Who benefits and how? Research Policy, 26 (4–5): 447–473.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samuels, R. J. 1987. The business of the Japanese state: Energy markets in comparative and historical perspective. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saxenian, A. 1994. Regional advantage: Culture and competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schaede, U. 2000. Cooperative capitalism: Self-regulation, trade associations, and the Antimonopoly Law in Japan. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schluchter, W. 1981. The rise of Western rationalism: Max Weber's developmental history. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter, J. A. 1942. Capitalism, socialism and democracy. London: Routledge, (1976 edition).

    Google Scholar 

  • Siebert, H. 2005. The German economy: Beyond the social market. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, J. I., Licht, A. N., & Schwartz, S. H. 2007. Egalitarianism and international investment, Working Paper, Harvard Business School.

  • Sorge, A. 2005. The global and the local: Understanding the dialectics of business systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Spradley, J. P. 1979. The ethnographic interview. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stinchcombe, A. L. 1990. Reason and rationality. In K. S. Cook & M. Levi (Eds), The limits of rationality: 285–317. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Streeck, W. 1997. German capitalism: Does it exist? Can it survive? New Political Economy, 2 (2): 237–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Streeck, W., & Thelen, K. (Eds) 2005. Beyond continuity: Institutional change in advanced political economies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Streeck, W., & Yamamura, K. (Eds) 2001. The origins of nonliberal capitalism: Germany and Japan in comparison. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Streeck, W., & Yamamura, K. 2003. Introduction: Convergence or diversity? Stability and change in German and Japanese capitalism. In K. Yamamura & W. Streeck (Eds), The end of diversity? Prospects for German and Japanese capitalism: 1–50. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thelen, K. 2001. Varieties of labor politics in the developed democracies. In P. A. Hall & D. Soskice (Eds), Varieties of capitalism: The institutional foundations of comparative advantage: 71–103. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Thelen, K. 2004. How institutions evolve: The political economy of skills in Germany, Britain, the United States, and Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Tilton, M. 1996. Restrained trade: Cartels in Japan's basic materials industries. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toynbee, A. J. 1957. A study of history. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trompenaars, A. 1998. Riding the waves of culture: Understanding cultural diversity in global business. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Upham, F. K. 1991. The man who would import: A cautionary tale about bucking the system in Japan. Journal of Japanese Studies, 17 (2): 323–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uzzi, B. 1997. Social structure and competition in interfirm networks: The paradox of embeddedness. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42 (1): 35–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van de Ven, A. H., & Hargrave, T. J. 2004. Social, technical, and institutional change: A literature review and synthesis. In M. S. Poole & A. H. Van de Ven (Eds), Handbook of organizational change and innovation: 259–303. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vitols, S. 2002. Shareholder value, management culture and production regimes in the transformation of the German chemical-pharmaceutical industry. Competition and Change, 6 (3): 309–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vogel, S. K. 2003. The re-organization of organized capitalism: How the German and Japanese models are shaping their own transformation. In K. Yamamura & W. Streeck (Eds), The end of diversity? Prospects for German and Japanese capitalism: 306–333. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogel, S. K. 2006. Japan remodeled: How government and industry are reforming Japanese capitalism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Volberda, H. W., & Lewin, A. Y. 2003. Co-evolutionary dynamics within and between firms: From evolution to co-evolution. Journal of Management Studies, 40 (8): 2111–2136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wan, W. P. 2005. Country resource environments, firm capabilities, and corporate diversification strategies. Journal of Management Studies, 42 (1): 161–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. 1920. Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionstheorie [Collected essays on religious theory]. Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. 1922. Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft [Economy and society]. Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. 1927. General economic history. New York: Greenberg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. 1930. The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. London: Allen & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. 1964. The theory of social and economic organization. New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Westney, D. E. 2001. Japan. In A. M. Rugman & T. L. Brewer (Eds), The Oxford handbook of international business: 623–651. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Whitley, R. 1999. Divergent capitalisms: The social structuring and change of business systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Witt, M. A. 2006. Changing Japanese capitalism: Societal coordination and institutional adjustment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Witt, M. A. 2008. Crossvergence 10 years on: Impact and further potential. Journal of International Business Studies, 39 (1): 47–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Witt, M. A., & Lewin, A. Y. 2007. Outward foreign direct investment as escape response to home country institutional constraints. Journal of International Business Studies, 38 (4): 579–594.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, S. 2001. Business, government, and patterns of labor market policy in Britain and the Federal Republic of Germany. In P. A. Hall & D. Soskice (Eds), Varieties of capitalism: The institutional foundations of comparative advantage: 247–274. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Yamamura, K. 1986. Caveat emptor: The industrial policy of Japan. In P. R. Krugman (Ed.), Strategic trade policy and the new international economics: 169–210. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamamura, K., & Streeck, W. (Eds) 2003. The end of diversity? Prospects for German and Japanese capitalism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Hildy Teegen and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful feedback and valuable suggestions, and Arie Y Lewin for his guidance and encouragement. Susan J Pharr, Wolfgang Streeck, and participants at the SASE 2007 conference provided valuable comments on earlier versions of this paper. We further owe great thanks to the Lee Foundation, Singapore, for its generous financial support of our field research; to the interviewees for making time for us in their busy schedules; and to our many contacts who helped us arrange interviews, especially Yuko Unoki.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. INSEAD, Singapore

    Michael A Witt

  2. INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France

    Gordon Redding

Authors
  1. Michael A Witt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gordon Redding
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael A Witt.

Additional information

Accepted by Hildy Teegen, Departmental Editor, 25 February 2008. This paper has been with the authors for one revision.

Appendices

Appendix A

LIST OF INTERVIEWEES

Positions indicated as of the time of the interview.

Germany

Dr. Uwe-Ernst Bufe, former CEO, Degussa

Leonhard H Fischer, exec. board member, Allianz & Dresdner Bank

Peter Fischl, CFO, Infineon

Dr. Carl Hahn, former CEO, VW

Dr. Wolf Klinz, exec. board member, AGIV

Hilmar Kopper, former CEO, Deutsche Bank

Dr. Dietmar Kuhnt, CEO, RWE

Dr. Ulrich Middelmann, Vice CEO, ThyssenKrupp

Dr. Werner Schmidt, former CFO, VW

Dr. Ronaldo Schmitz, former exec. board member, Deutsche Bank

Dr. Harald Schröder, former Vice CEO, Merck

Dr. Henning Schulte-Noelle, CEO, Allianz

Dr. Heinrich v Pierer, CEO, Siemens

Kurt F. Viermetz, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, HypoVereinsbank

Dr. Herbert Wörner, former exec. board member, Bosch; former CEO, Bosch Siemens Haushaltsgeraete

Dr. Jürgen Zech, former CEO, Gerling

Anonymous, CEO, DAX firm (i.e., one of Germany's 30 largest public firms)

Japan

Yoshikazu Hanawa, Chairman, Nissan

Toru Hashimoto, former Chairman, Fuji Bank

Terukazu Inoue, Special Auditor, Toyota

Takeo Inokuchi, Chairman and President, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance

Masami Ito, President, Ito Ham

Tetsuro Kawakami, former Chairman, Sumitomo Electric

Yorihiko Kojima, Senior Executive Vice President, Mitsubishi Corp.

Akira Uehara, President, Taisho Seiyaku

Kaneichi Maehara, former board member, Sumitomo Life Insurance, Chairman, Sumitomo Life Research Institute

Minoru Makihara, Chairman, Mitsubishi Corp.

Hiroshi Nagata, Executive Vice President & board member, Mitsui & Co.

Taizo Nishimuro, Chairman, Toshiba

Akira Nishikawa, President & CEO, Mitsubishi Materials

Koichi Ohmuro, Senior Managing Director & Senior Executive Officer, Mitsui Fudosan

Masahiro Sakane, President, Komatsu Machinery

Teruo Shimamura, President & COO, Nikon

Yasuhiko Watanabe, former board member, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Senior Managing Director, Mitsubishi Estate

Appendix B

INTERVIEW SCHEDULE

Purpose of the firm

  • If you had to choose the most important reason for your firm being in existence (beyond operating efficiently to survive), what would it be? Why is it important for it to survive?

  • What is the firm ultimately for? Accepting a list of reasons, what comes first and why?

  • What firms do you admire most and why?

  • What business leaders do you admire most and why?

  • When you retire, what will you look back on as having achieved?

  • What should the contribution of the economy be to the society at large, in addition to generating wealth?

  • How should the wealth be distributed and why?

Institutional structure of the economy

  • Around the world there are many ways of constructing an economy. Given a free choice, which formula do you prefer and why?

  • What are the three most significant principles, on which it should be built, in order of importance?

  • In implementing the above design principles, what main practical means are necessary?

  • What is needed to make it work, and what is the process which allows such components to contribute? What are the main vehicles needed?

  • Describe a serious weakness in the structuring of an economy that you have observed.

  • Describe an important contributing aspect of a successful business system that you have observed.

  • How does your own business system work so well? Main strengths and weaknesses as a system.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Witt, M., Redding, G. Culture, meaning, and institutions: Executive rationale in Germany and Japan. J Int Bus Stud 40, 859–885 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2008.81

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2008.81

Keywords

Search

Navigation