Cover -- Region and Strategy in Britain and Japan: Business in Lancashire and Kansai, 1890-1990 and Ei Nichi Ryokoku ni okeru Chiiki to Keiei Senryaku: Rankasha to Kansai no Bijinesu, 1890-1990 -- Copyright -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Tables -- Contributors -- Preface -- 1 Region and history -- The origins of the region -- Region and State -- The region and scholarship -- The intellectual rejection of the region -- The resurgence of the region -- The pre-eminence of Osaka in the regional historiography of Japan -- The challenge posed by a new approach to regional economic history -- Notes -- 2 Region and nation -- The primacy of commerce in the initiation of global economic change -- A comparison of Manchester and Osaka -- A comparison of Liverpool and Kobe -- The changing relationship between Lancashire and London, 1890-1926 -- The rise of the Hanshin (Osaka and Kobe) industrial zone, 1890-1935 -- The era of high-speed growth, 1955-73 -- The repercussions of the oil-price shocks, 1973-80 -- The constraints upon business strategy in Lancashire -- The collapse of the export markets of Lancashire, 1926-90 -- The economic involution of Lancashire -- The repercussions of the emergence of Tokyo as a world city, 1920-90 -- The transition from a manufacturing economy to a service economy -- The bubble economy in Kansai, 1984-90 -- The importance of regional control over an economy -- Acknowledgements -- Notes -- 3 Comparisons between the development of big business in the north-west of England and in Osaka, 1900-1990s -- Size of firm -- Industrial activity -- Location of head office -- Strategies and structures -- Chairmen -- Survivors -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 4 Japan, Lancashire and the Asian market for cotton manufactures, 1890-1990 -- The Lazonick revolution in historiography.

Barriers to understanding: the diffirence in business culture -- Barriers to understanding: the entrenched belief in the primacy of manufacturing -- The turning point of the 1890s -- A comparison of the cotton industries in Lancashire and Japan -- The advantages of Japan: superior marketing strategy -- The advantages of Japan: cost-cutting capacity -- Japan and the China market, 1890-1930 -- The repercussions upon Lancashire, 1920-25 -- Japan and the world economic depression, 1929-32 -- The establishment of Japanese primacy in Asian markets: the Dutch East Indies and India -- The repercussions upon Lancashire, 1926-39 -- The challenge by the mainland of Asia to Japan, 1945-90 -- The repercussions upon Lancashire, 1945-90 -- Acknowledgements -- Notes -- 5 Labour management in the textile industry -- Notes -- 6 Electronics manufacturers in Osaka and Manchester: A comparison of Matsushita and Ferranti -- Founders: culture and strategy -- The domestic environment and early company growth to the 1940s -- Expansion and prospects since the 1940s -- Conclusions -- Notes -- 7 A comparison of Cammell Laird and Hitachi Zosen as shipbuilders -- Acknowledgement -- Notes -- Sources -- 8 Management education in Japan and the United Kingdom: Regional dimensions -- The role and impact of education in economic development -- Attitudes to management education in Osaka prior to 1945 -- British business and management training prior to the 1940s -- Postwar educational reform in Japan and the business response -- Business schools in Britain: a revolution? -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 9 Industrial research in Osaka and North-west UK from the 1920s to the 1960s -- Introduction -- Public research organisations -- Private industrial research -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgements -- Notes -- 10 Region and strategy.

Significant issues arising from the comparison of the Lancashire and Kansai regions -- The inherent limitations of a national perspective -- Region and nation during the era of expansion -- National and regional policy during the era of re-adjustment -- The divergence in business culture between Lancashire and Kansai -- The inherited image and the statistical reality -- Notes -- Index.