Creating Japan's new industrial management: The Americans as teachers

Thirteen years ago, I first heard mention of three American engineers who had helped Japanese industry in important ways during the Occupation. In the midst of my other activities, I was able to track them down; it seemed to me that they could have valuable information on how Japan's “new” industrial management was shaped — a process about which very little has been written, at least in English. Such information I thought should surely help any of us who are interested in reshaping our own management in any way in the Japanese direction. I was not disappointed in what I found. In the following I have given comparatively little space to my own conclusions, and as much as possible to the material I have unearthed, in the belief that there are many able managers who would like to study the evidence themselves, and form their own conclusions about the significance of these past events for the present. In drawing attention to the hard work and dedication of those discussed in this article, I have wanted to pay tribute to the gift mid‐century Americans made to the world — a gift of their sacrifice, generosity, and vision.