Efficiency vs. effectiveness orientation of global sourcing strategy: A comparison of U.S. and Japanese multinational companies

Executive Overview During most of this decade, Japan has been mired in its longest post-war recession. Some pundits predict that this will be the end of the Japanese corporate juggernaut. Indeed, our interest in Japan and Japanese competition has waned concomitantly in recent years. So has our learning from the Japanese. This is dangerously short-sighted. The pendulum of international trade has shifted from cross-Atlantic to cross-Pacific in...