James Christian Abegglen (1926–2007) was an American-born Japanese business theorist and professor in management and economics at Sophia University. He was one of the founders of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in 1963, and the first

representative director Executive director is commonly the title of the chief executive officer of a non-profit organization, government agency or international organization. The title is widely used in North American and European not-for-profit organizations, though ...

of its Tokyo branch, founded in 1966.

Biography

Abegglen was born in Michigan. After graduation from the University of Chicago, he served in the

Third Marine Division The 3rd Marine Division is a division of the United States Marine Corps based at Camp Courtney, Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler in Okinawa, Japan. It is one of three active duty infantry divisions in the Marine Corps and together with t ...

to fight at

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Island and

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. As World War II ended, he left in 1945 for

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as a member of the United States

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(USSBS). He visited

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

again in 1955 as a researcher of the Ford Foundation, to study Japanese industrial organization and personnel practices. Abegglen lived permanently in Japan with his Japanese wife after 1982 and took Japanese nationality in 1997. Abegglen served successively as professor and director of the Graduate School of Comparative Culture at Sophia University, chairperson of Asia Advisory Service K.K., and dean emeritus of Globis University in 2006. He taught "Management of Japanese Enterprises" at that school until his death from cancer on May 2, 2007.

Work

Abegglen's academic interests centered on Japanese enterprises and economic systems and their priority to western capitalism.

''The Japanese Factory''

''The Japanese Factory'', published in 1958, pointed out the following features of employment and the strength of their mechanism in Japanese corporations: * ''

Lifetime employment Permanent employees work for an employer and are paid directly by that employer. Permanent employees do not have a predetermined end date to employment. In addition to their wages, they often receive benefits like subsidized health care, paid vac ...

'': Employment extends over the whole working life of the employee * ''Seniority-based wages'': Compensation is determined by the number of years of employment in the company * ''Periodic hiring'': Employing young people fresh out of school * ''In-company training'': Employing workers based on personal qualities rather than job suitability, providing on-the-job training after hire * ''Enterprise union'': one labour union for each enterprise Those employment practices, in strong contrast with the West, often at first startled and intrigued people in the United States, thus his book became a best-seller.

Criticism

Abegglen was widely regarded as a reliable guide to Japan by Western business interests in the post-war era. Critics like

Eamonn Fingleton Eamonn Fingleton (born 19 August 1948) is an Irish financial journalist and author who for 27 years covered global finance and economics from a base in Tokyo. His books, written for a general audience, deal with global economics and globalism. ...

argue, however, that he "regarded his principal function as doing public relations on behalf of the Japanese establishment," that he misled Western leaders and the Western public about the openness of Japanese markets, and that he kept his change of nationality secret.Eamonn Fingleton, ''In the Jaws of the Dragon: America's Fate in the Coming Era of Chinese Hegemony'' (New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2008), 313.

Publications

Abegglen authored and co-authored ten books on Japan. A selection: * ''The Japanese Factory'' (1958) * ''Big Business in America'' (1955) * ''Kaisha, the Japanese Corporation'' (1985) * ''Sea Change: Pacific Asia as the New World Industrial Center'' (Free Press: 1994) * ''21st Century Japanese Management: New Systems, Lasting Values'' (Palgrave Macmillan: 2006)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abegglen, James Christian 1926 births 2007 deaths American business theorists Boston Consulting Group people American emigrants to Japan Naturalized citizens of Japan University of Chicago alumni Military personnel from Michigan Writers from Michigan Academic staff of Sophia University United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II