For the purpose of this review, I will discuss Asian Management Systems from three levels of analysis, these being the explicative, normative and ideological ramifications of this work.
Explicative analysis
The first level of analysis will concern the explicative value of Asian Management Systems, and will address the performance of the author in accomplishing the stated objectives of the book: describing and comparing Confucian-based business cultures of Asia. At this first level, I would like initially to remark that I feel this book has been incorrectly titled. In Asian Management Systems, Min Chen does not focus on systems of management or managerial styles, or methods in Asia, but rather compares four specific types of co-determinism between business and cultural/political/economic environments, focusing primarily on the manner in which Confucian cultural environments shape inter-business relationships and strategy in some Asian countries. As such, there are only brief sections of this book which address what most potential readers would consider as "management systems". While I do not fault the author for this confused positioning, I believe some readers may be misled by the title and layout of the book.
As a book which explores the cultural determinants of some forms of Asian business practices, then, Asian Management Systems contains a considerable variety of information and premisses. It is in fact this variety which somewhat weakens the book by giving it a grab-bag flavour and obscuring its design and aims.
Given that the targeted readers are executives and business school students (p. ix), rather than management scholars, this book provides a competent description and overview of contemporary Asian business practices and the cultural ideologies which influence them. The author provides very interesting insights regarding the historical evolution of Asian cultural constructuins and the interplay between these cultural elements and contemporary Asian business practices. These sections represent the core strengths of the book, and the author presents these insights in a lucid and easily understandable format.
At the same time, the structure and aforementioned diversity within the book tend to make it difficult for the reader to discern the overall direction of the book or extract some of this wisdom. Sections explaining complex Japanese and Korean corporate and economic structures in considerable detail, for example, are interspersed with relatively simplistic or trivial discussions of comparative negotiation styles and theories of strategic planning.
Asian Management Systems consists of four distinct sections. The first of these sections comprises four chapters which attempts to lay a "conceptual framework" for understanding how Confucian cultural systems influence Asian business practices. The first chapter presents a textbook-like overview of comparative management models which, other than providing theoretical rationalizations for the premiss that culture influences business practices, is virtually unrelated to the remainder of the book. This chapter is then followed by discussions of core cultural values, the military strategies of Sun Tzu, and the dynamics of Asian network building. Sections II and III describe Chinese, Japanese, and Korean business environments and organization. Finally, the last section attempts to draw normative conclusions concerning negotiation styles and joint ventures potentials, and provides a detailed description of Japanese distribution systems. Although the layouts of each section and of the overall book appear logical and justifiable, the transitions or conceptual intergration between contiguous chapters or between each chapter and the overall book are minimal or awkward. This problem no doubt partly results from the fact that three of the chapters are basically articles which the author previously published in managerial journals. Thus, while many of the chapters are well done, the book appears somewhat as a collection of independent readings.
In addition, several inconsistencies can be noted throughout the book. In discussing negotiation styles, for example, Professor Chen asserts that "for the Chinese, in particular, contracts are expected to change and promises may be broken" (p. 237). At another point, however, it is suggested that "once a verbal contract is reached it is expected to be kept. If a Chinese businessman promises to sell certain goods at a specified price he must sell the goods at the agreed upon price" (p. 98). In the conclusion, the author cites the "humanistic" managerial approach of Asian companies as the most important determinant of their contemporary business success, yet throughout the book (and in many other accounts) are numerous examples of the Tayloristic or even Dickensian treatment of workers under what the author earlier terms "authoritarian leadership (p. 217).
Overall, Asian Management Systems provides many interesting details and interpretations of the intricacies of Asian business practices and institutions for those who are unfamiliar with these topics. This book can thus be recommended as an excellent place to begin when researching Asian business methods. (One additional observation may be worth mentioning here. Asian Management Systems is exclusively devoted to the male role in Asian business, and makes no virtually no mention of women or their roles other than as part-time labourers in Japanese businesses. I assume, however, that this bias is a reflection of actual Asian practices and attitudes, rather than a deliberate omission by the author).
Normative analysis
The second, or normative level of this analysis addresses the utility of this book in yielding either insights or transferable knowledge for American or European business managers. Critical to this ability is the exact nature of the interdependence between culture and business. In chapter 1, Professor Chen elaborately addresses but fails to resolve the most important dilemma of this and similar books. That is, if culture plays a dominant role in determining business strategy and management, as he asserts in this book, can successful business practices be transplanted to organizations operating in vastly different cultures? If so, then are these strategies truly culture dependent? If management methods and competitive strategies are not separable from the cultures within which they are known to succeed, then it is unlikely that they can be transferred to other cultural environments. In the latter case then, the study of business methods in other cultures cannot enhance the practice of business in domestic markets, but can only potentially improve the interaction with businesses operating in these cultures. It is in this area where the potential of this book is most realizable.
As noted in the first-level analysis of this book, Asian Management Systems has little to offer American or European managers interested in gaining insight into alternative managerial techniques. The probable utility of this book is most clearly noted in the preface, where the author states "this book is written for international executives and business school students who have interest in doing business in Asia". Although Professor Chen later seems to imply that his book is potentially beneficial to Americans desirous of improving their domestic managerial skills, I believe this work may be incapable of delivering these specific benefits.
Ideological analysis
The third, and final level of analysis in this review focuses on the ideological issues explicitly and implicitly embodied within this author's presentation of material. At this level, I endeavour to explore the overall manner in which this book, and those like it, colour or influence the conceptualization and practice of management.
With the ascent of Asian business supremacy in the last half of this century, the search for explanations of this phenomenon has yielded a diverse range of theories. As the "Japanese miracle" of the 1970s evolved into the "Asian miracle" of the 1990s, management "scholars" and consultants have marketed a seemingly limitless range of explanations and corollary competitive solutions to American and European businesses desperate to remain viable. As a result, businesses have been subjected over the last two decades to "Japanese management" and other theoretical genres which have evolved through worker organization and motivation, corporate culture, process technologies such as just-in-time or total quality management, business strategies based on military metaphors, and business/environment co-determinism.
While Asian Management Systems is, in general, an example of the last of these efforts, this book variously embraces each of the alternative theories mentioned above. Thus, while the author wisely cautions against the wholesale adoption of any of these "solutions", Asian Management Systems is a book in which many of these theories are tightly interwoven and thus inseparable from the text. As a result, the book's potentially unique contribution becomes hostage to all of the theoretical fads which have been generated by the "Asian management" craze. This is unfortunate, because I believe this book could have, with some modifications, transcended these fads to look at Asian business practices through a more objective and critical analysis. Yet, while it appears evident that Professor Chen is cognizant of some of these issues, his employment of these devices is probably warranted, given his target audience of business managers rather than academics.
Epilogue
In summary, Asian Management Systems is an interesting, often insightful book suitable for those interested in engaging in business with Chinese, Japanese or Korean firms. While it may be difficult for American or European managers to utilize this knowledge for improving domestic management skills, this book should prove particularly useful for those interested in directly learning the intricacies of Asian business and economic structures. For academic or more sophisticated readers, however, these strengths are partially diluted by a comparatively frail structure for the book and by what may be preceived as on over-reliance on theoretical fads, over-generalizations, and assumptions.
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