Europe fails to learn from Japanese lessons

Abstract

What is the secret of Japan's success? What can we learn by studying it, or it all too intimately associated with the peculiarities of Japanese culture to be worth our while trying? And does it depend on the physical sciences, or is it a matter of management buzzwords like Just in Time and Total Quality Management? To answer these questions we need to consider where Japan started on its way to becoming the word's second largest national economy, producing nearly one-fifth of the world's output and accounting for 17% of total OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) manufactured exports.