Price, Quality and Trust: Inter-firm Relations in Britain and Japan

by Mari Sako

Overview

Long-term, close trading relations based on trust have come to be regarded as a key to the management of buyer-supplier relations in industry, while the arm's length and adversarial commercial bargain has fallen out of favor. This book examines these contrasting approaches, and the link between them and corporate performance, through a study of the electronics industry in Britain and Japan, and offers a unique integration of multi-disciplinary theorizing and original comparative empirical work. It will be of use to those interested in the nature of the firm, and students of comparative economic performance in Japan and Britain.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521413862
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/08/1992
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Management , #18
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.94(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.91(d)

Table of Contents

List of figures; List of tables; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I. Theory and Concepts: 1. A spectrum of transactional patterns: from ACR to OCR; 2. Trust and organisational efficiency; Part II. Case Studies and Survey: 3. Setting the scene; 4. JJ Electric, GB Electronics and TCP (UK); 5. The analysis of supplier companies; Part III. Explanations of Variations: 6. Economic and technological factors; 7. The legal framework; 8. Banks and financial links; 9. Employment system links; 10. Entrepreneurship, and the dynamics of small firm creation; Part IV. Outcomes and Implications: 11. How ACR-P OCR patterns relate to competitiveness; 12. Conclusions; Appendix; Notes; Bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

"Sako clearly presents both the theoretical and observable features of ACR and OCR, applies these concepts to a sample of firms, and attempts to explain differences in behavior from a variety of perspectives....a rich description of how buyer-supplier relations are managed in both Britain and Japan." Peggy K. Takahashi, Contemporary Sociology

"...a very well-researched, informative, and scholarly account of differences between buyer-supplier relations in Japan and Britain and one that should be read by academics in the field, but should certainly be prescribed reading for all Western purchasing managers trying to implement OCR and all management gurus exhorting them to do so." Journal of Japanese Studies

"...makes a valuable contribution to the literature, both in terms of documentation and interpretation....All of us interested in corporate strategy and performance have much to learn from this fine study." Edward H. Lorenz, Journal of Economic Literature

From the Publisher