BOOKS FOR MANAGERS
is still basically
accounting.
a formal
introduction
to financial
Double entry and “T” accounts are described in detail
but
one
wonders
what
use
this
is to a
general/sales/production manager. Software packages
process this data and the results are much more
important than the detailed processes. Perhaps a nonaccountant would be interested but (from experience
as a lecturer to mature MBA students) such a person
would be in a minority.
If the book is accepted as an introduction to accounting
on a superficial level then it is worth reading by any
manager. Accountants should read it to learn about
explaining the various techniques to others not trained
in a financial discipline.
Chapter 20 on Valuation is only four pages in length
but Mathematics of Interest, Chapter 12 is fifteen pages
long. Would a manager of whatever discipline not
prefer some examples on valuations - even recent real
life examples - to give a concrete picture of what
exactly takes place? The calculation of interest is surely
of minimal concern except to a few specialists. It is this
sort of comparison that makes one look again at the
market for this book. The various chapters containing
discrete worked examples appear to be used to pad out
certain sections whereas, as suggested, more work on
valuations would be welcomed.
Pages 74 and 75 are photocopies of other documents
and contain miniscule printing which is difficult to
read. Why do publishers allow such poor examples of
their craft?
This book is difficult to categorise. It is of passing
interest to accountants and certain finance students.
Any general manager would, in the reviewer’s view,
soon find that he was reading a basic introduction to
finance and how finance decisions impinge on other
areas. Perhaps this is what it is meant to do. The title
suggests, to this reviewer, something more general and
dynamic.
Bob Scott
Glasgow Business School
and Operations Management, Daniel W
Thomas
R Hoffman,
and Peter
W
Stonebreaker,
South Western Publishing,
1989, 822
pages, f 17.95.
Production
Gofarty,
Fogarty, as it will be known to differentiate it from all
the other books with the same title, seems at first to
be another text aimed at undergraduate
production
management courses. It is over 800 pages and offers
81
an instructors manual and p.c. based decision support
software; all of these features are typical of this genre.
Traditional diagrams are here indicating that the well
established procedures and techniques of Operations
Management
are covered. In addition the newer
‘conceptual’
acronyms such as TQM and JIT are
included, but as an in-text appendix rather than as
integrated topics. So the content is fairly standard and
any competitive advantage must be gained from its
organisation, presentation and style.
The organisation
of the book is indeed somewhat
novel. The authors have moved from the classical
approach of arranging the text in terms of functions
and have adopted a ‘time-line
and techniques,
orientation’. As a result the book is divided into seven
parts, four of which are based on planning phases.
Emphasis is placed on planning time-scales, and many
techniques traditionally grouped under operational
functions (e.g. capacity management) are dispersed in
the text.
Part 1, the Introduction, consists of two chapters. The
first deals with the operations function, its history, the
systems
concept,
and productivity.
The second
differentiates
between
types of organisations,
in
particular
between
service
and manufacturing
operations, and discusses areas of decision making.
(The preface promises to promote a systems approach
and to emphasise service related topics, but both
promises are largely unfulfilled in the remaining text.)
Part 2, Long-range
Planning,
covers product and
resource planning, facility location, and process design
in three chapters and in a conventional manner.
Part 3, Medium-range
Planning, has five chapters
which cover forecasting, aggregate (and production
and resource capacity) planning, master scheduling
(and capacity planning),
facility layout, and work
design and measurement.
Part 4, Short-range Planning consists of three chapters
on inventory management
(independent
demand),
MRP,
and
capacity
requirements
planning
respectively.
Part 5, Execution and Control, consists of
which cover activity control (mainly
project
management
(PERT/CPM),
management,
distribution management,
assurance and control.
five chapters
scheduling),
purchasing
and quality
Part six, Policy and Strategy, consists of two chapters
which are perhaps misplaced. The first on strategy and
policy would be better placed in Part 1, while the
chapter on JIT, TQC, and enhanced
scheduling
techniques would have fitted into Part 5.
82
EMJ VOL. 8 NO. 1: March
1990
Finally Part 7, Technical Supplements,
analysis, mathematical programming,
waiting line theory.
covers financial
simulation, and
The application of time-line orientation in parts 2, 3,
4, and 5 works well in that it emphasises
the
importance of time-scales in Operations Management.
However the cohesiveness of the functional/technique
approach is not sacrificed entirely, for example the
PERT/CPM technique, which has both planning and
control components is not split.
The presentation of the book is excellent and maintains
the usual high standard of American texts. However
this style is a little dry, and more case material and
practical information would have helped. For example
the importance of the availability of computer packages
in the development of both MRP and PERT/CPM is not
acknowledged to any extent. In these cases the power
and scope of such systems,
their availability
at
and brief implementation
relatively
low prices,
guidelines should have been described. In addition
much of the data is parochial to the US, (e.g.
US/Japanese performance comparisons), which made
the text less valuable in a European context, but this
is also true of all similar texts.
The book is valuable
as a text for Operations
Management courses. Its strengths lie in its technical
depth of theory and subject comprehensiveness,
and
it does attempt to satisfy both manufacturing
and
service sectors. Its weakness lies in its lack of case
material and practical content. It is APICS (American
Production and Inventory Control Society) approved
and the material is consistent
with the APICS
terminology and doctrine. This should guarantee its
success in the USA, but it does not rise above similar
offerings in a competitive sector.
this reason Japanese managers have concluded that
local cultural behaviour as akin to their own. The
author hypothesises
that this has encouraged
the
Japanese to implement managerial methods in their
East Asian subsidiaries
with less sensitivity to the
differences than Western firms.
To test this opinion, the author conducted a survey of
employees of a Japanese owned department
store
group in both Hong Kong and Singapore and with a
second Japanese store (only Hong Kong). Findings
suggested that as in equivalent studies in the UK and
USA, Japanese Management had only transferred part
of their management system. Chinese shop workers
were dissatisfied with what they regarded as the key
factor - pay and promotion. The positive feelings that
employees
had towards their bosses, co-workers,
company and job did not fully compensate for the
negative attitude to the “hygiene” factors.
This study can never be more than an early still
photograph
of a moving and long term situation.
Nevertheless
it is a useful benchmark
for future
investigation.
The Japanese have shown again and
again their flexibility and adaptability
whether in
regard to early marketing failures in the West or in their
ability to absorb and suitably modify Western practices.
As Japan moves offshore, her managers will continue
to transfer their winning methods tailored for local
consumption.
Much remains for Japanese managers
to do in this regard. A major Achilles heel is Japan’s
multinationals’
inability to absorb foreign executives
into the senior echelons of the management cadre.
University
Simon Coke
of Edinburgh
Geoff Southern
Business School
Trojan Horse, the Ultimate Japanese Challenge to
Western Industry, Barrie G James, Mercury Business
Books, London 1989, 284 pp, Cl 5.00.
Japanese-Style
Management
Transferred;
The
Experience of East Asia, KJohn Fukuda, Routledge,
London 1988, 220 pp, f3.00.
The threat of the Japanese is a topic which sells books.
For this reason Barrie James’ book will appeal to
Western politicians,
managers and trade unionists
eager to seek reasons for halting the flow of Japanese
direct foreign investment into our markets. But why
are the Japanese investing in production capacity in
the EC and the USA? The Japanese themselves would
prefer to export. Exporters can better control suppliers
(cost/quality and delivery times) and employ their own
workforce whom they know how to motivate. The
problems of communication,
of integrating foreign
managers and the political issues of plants owned
overseas all mitigate against foreign direct investment
as a strategic choice. But the trend towards increased
protectionism combined with the rise of the Yen have
University
of Glasgow
John Fukuda begins his monograph “Japanese-style
management transferred; the experience of East Asia”
with a short analysis of the effects of national culture
on management with particular emphasis on Japanese
as opposed to Western management norms. This leads
to a discussion
of the social values of Thailand,
Malaysia, Indonesia
and of the overseas Chinese
Communities in East Asia.
Certain underlying cultural traits do appear to be
common throughout the region including Japan. For