Has the traditional Japanese management system transformed after the bubble burst in the 1990’s? Case study: Nissan Motors

Sammanfattning: There has been much debate about the Japanese management system and its changes as well as continuity. There is a consensus that the Japanese human resource management rests on three core pillars which are lifetime employment, seniority based salaries/promotions and unions. The purpose of this study was to investigate if these three core pillars have transformed after the 1990's when the economic bubble burst in Japan and find out how Nissan Motors has changed them during the same time period. My hypothesis was that they have debilitated and thus the Japanese management system has altered. I have used Nissan Motors as a case study to investigate in real life context how a traditional and respected Japanese company has dealt with the core pillars in the process of changing its business strategy. To identify the possible changes I have applied Kurt Lewin's 3-step model of change. The results of my research show that a change has indeed taken place in the Japanese management system and the three core pillars have transformed, but not so much as suggested in the consulted literature. My case study, Nissan Motors, supports this conclusion, since they have modified the pillars as well.