Wales has one of the highest concentrations of Japanese manufacturing investment Europe with the recent arrival of a Toyota engine plant at Deeside and a Sony television plant at Pencoed. It provides an ideal case for examining the economic and social impact of this new investment, which is often perceived as being very different from existing foreign investment.
This study evaluates these questions, looking at the attraction of Japanese capital to Wales, its impact on the Welsh economy, upon employment, management practice, industrial relations, the community, and upon the Japanese themselves. Finally there is a consideration of the future prospects for Japanese investment in Wales and its likely effects.
The Welsh are, as a whole, ambivalent about the increasing Japanese investment in the tiny country, now larger than anywhere else in Europe. On the one hand, they desperately need new industry to replace the coal and steel industries that supported the population until the middle of the century. On the other hand, they are trying to reestablish a cultural identity that has been overwhelmed by a modernism they associate with their colonial status within the British Empire. Members of the Japanese Management Research Unit of the Cardiff Business School examine the impact on the Welsh economy, employment, management practice, industrial relations, the community, and on the Japanese themselves. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
