In this major contribution to comparative-international business Richard Whitley compares and contrasts the dominant characteristics of firms and markets in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, relating these to their particular social, political and economic contexts.

At the level of the firm he looks at such areas as management styles and structures, decision-making processes, owner-employee relations, and patterns of company growth and development. He also discusses market development, customer, supplier and inter-firm relations, and the roles of the financial sectors and the state in market and industry development.

The book also examines the ways in which key social institutions in each country have affected the evolution of business. Finally, the author makes a comparison of East Asian business systems with dominant Western practices.