1 Japanese Companies in the Czech Republic: A Comparative Performance Analysis Michaela Blahová, Faculty of Management and Economics, Tomas Bata University in Zlín – Czech Republic Přemysl Pálka, Faculty of Management and Economics, Tomas Bata University in Zlín – Czech Republic Rick Edgeman, Business and Technology Department, Aarhus University – Denmark, and Industrial Engineering and Management Division, Uppsala University – Sweden Purpose: This paper explores the performance of Japanese companies located in the Czech Republic that focus on the manufacturing of transportation machinery parts (due to their largest share of the manufacturing industry) and compares their results with other companies in the same industry in the Czech Republic (irrespective of the owner’s country of origin) in order to find out whether Japanese companies have been succeeding in combining a new focus on strategy, profit orientation, global outlook and flexibility with their traditional strengths of efficient processes, quality orientation, attention to detail and the capacity to win a substantial degree of loyalty from their employees, and, therefore, achieve improved corporate performance. Approach/method/design: The research involved assembling key academic and other literature on the subject of corporate performance as well as an in-depth analysis of various measures of financial analysis. Despite widespread calls for a balanced approach to assessing organizational performance, financial measures still dominate and, therefore, the research took them into consideration. The data obtained were further analyzed by the R free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. Findings: The study incorporated a sample of 180 companies in the period between 2005 and 2010 in order to detect the influence of the financial crisis. Within the analysis, outliers were excluded using the statistical method of boxplots. Although the research did not prove a causal relationship between the enhanced performance of Japanese companies and recent changes in the global economy, it identified companies with above-average performance values that respond to changes in economies and adapt their business focus quickly.
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1
Japanese Companies in the Czech Republic: A Comparative
Performance Analysis
Michaela Blahová, Faculty of Management and Economics, Tomas Bata University in
Zlín – Czech Republic
Přemysl Pálka, Faculty of Management and Economics, Tomas Bata University in Zlín –
Czech Republic
Rick Edgeman, Business and Technology Department, Aarhus University – Denmark,
and Industrial Engineering and Management Division, Uppsala University – Sweden
Purpose: This paper explores the performance of Japanese companies located in the Czech
Republic that focus on the manufacturing of transportation machinery parts (due to their
largest share of the manufacturing industry) and compares their results with other companies
in the same industry in the Czech Republic (irrespective of the owner’s country of origin) in
order to find out whether Japanese companies have been succeeding in combining a new
focus on strategy, profit orientation, global outlook and flexibility with their traditional
strengths of efficient processes, quality orientation, attention to detail and the capacity to win
a substantial degree of loyalty from their employees, and, therefore, achieve improved
corporate performance.
Approach/method/design: The research involved assembling key academic and other
literature on the subject of corporate performance as well as an in-depth analysis of various
measures of financial analysis. Despite widespread calls for a balanced approach to assessing
organizational performance, financial measures still dominate and, therefore, the research
took them into consideration. The data obtained were further analyzed by the R free software
environment for statistical computing and graphics.
Findings: The study incorporated a sample of 180 companies in the period between 2005 and
2010 in order to detect the influence of the financial crisis. Within the analysis, outliers were
excluded using the statistical method of boxplots. Although the research did not prove a
causal relationship between the enhanced performance of Japanese companies and recent
changes in the global economy, it identified companies with above-average performance
values that respond to changes in economies and adapt their business focus quickly.
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Value/contribution: The paper shares valuable insights on performance measurements of
Japanese companies located in the Czech Republic that focus on manufacturing transportation
machinery parts in comparison with other companies in the same industry in the Czech
Republic (irrespective of the owner’s country of origin).
Submission category: Academic
Introduction
Japan is currently one the most influential economies in Asia and belongs among the largest
economies in the world. It has been widely reported that Japanese management practices have
had an enormous influence on Western management practices over the past decades.
Decisions by consensus, lifetime employment, continuous training, and other distinctive
practices have brought remarkable economic success to many companies.
The success of Japanese companies in the world markets since the 1970s has attracted
widespread attention (Haak and Pudelko, 2005; Prahalad and Hamel, 1990; Yang, 1984;
Abegglen, 1985; Hayes, 1981; Drucker, 1971). What became known as the Japanese
management model was the first non-Western model to question the supremacy of Western
approaches to management, and its principles and practices were imitated in many ways in a
number of other Asian countries, such as South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.
But “learning from Japan” was not only a phenomenon limited to Asian nations. Many
Western corporations also adopted several aspects of Japanese management, particularly with
regard to production processes, and Japanese management developed into a sub-discipline of