Learning from the Japanese: management in a resource-scarce world.

The principal value of studying the Japanese managerial system, according to Zussman, lies not in the prospect of copying it or of finding secrets for success, but in our ability to identify the relationship between the material resource position of an economy and the managerial systems that will be most effective in it. Zussman briefly discusses the historical development of the Japanese response to their resource-poor homeland and the principles they identified for success through the utilization of human resources--the one resource they had in abundance. He also cites the United States's historical response to its resource position as a source of our present economic difficulties. He contends that the structural changes required to cure our economic woes include eliminating the "entitlement" culture, developing better processes for employee selection, utilizing nonmonetary rewards, and adopting different criteria for selection and promotion of managers.