Tsutsui's study charts Taylorism's Japanese incarnation from the
"efficiency movement" of the 1920s, through Depression-era
"rationalization" and wartime mobilization, up to postwar "productivity"
drives and quality-control campaigns. Taylorism became more than a
management tool; its spread beyond the factory was a potent intellectual
template in debates over economic growth, social policy, and political
authority in modern Japan. Tsutsui's historical and comparative
perspectives reveal the centrality of Japanese Taylorism to ongoing
discussions of Japan's government-industry relations and the evolution
of Fordist mass production. He compels us to rethink what implications
Japanese-style management has for Western industries, as well as the
future of Japan itself.