Japanese Inward Investment in the Northeast of England: Reassessing ‘Japanisation’

The notion of ‘Japanisation’ is evaluated by examining the relationship between nationality and the adoption of particular kinds of managerial and work practices amongst inward investors in northeast England. Information is derived from an extensive postal questionnaire survey followed by a more intensive qualitative survey of inward investor plants. The postal survey shows that the new practices have been widely adopted in plants of all nationalities, although rates of adoption are higher for the Far Eastern group. The in-depth interviews reveal, however, that there are important variations in the ways in which these new practices are applied. It is argued that these variations cannot be understood in terms of ‘nationality’. Rather, they are associated with differences in production processes and the segmentation of labour based on gender, age, and skill. In the light of these findings, the significance of the term ‘Japanisation’ for regions and regional policy is considered.