Despite the negative press Asian economies have received in connection with the recent financial crisis, their record of spectacular growth over the past few decades remains irrefutable. In an effort to provide a rich, textured analysis of these economies, editor W. Mark Fruin presents a collection of essays that explores the wide range of network organizations that have been established in the Pacific Rim.
Conventional studies of economic organization have tended to center on markets and hierarchies, the two forms of organization most common in the West. But today the world moves too...

In this age of high technology, Japan's success in continuous improvement and innovation in key industries, ranging from steel and automobiles to electronics, has been spectacular, and the unique institutional arrangements that have supported this success have attracted wide attention. Yet, with only a few exceptions, the discussion of Japan's innovation system has tended to be anecdotal. This book investigates Japan's current innovation system through empirical, mostly quantitative, research. The contributors, who are leading Japanese scholars on these subjects, reveal the rich and complex...