Americanization and its Limits: Reworking US Technology and Management in Post-war Europe and Japan

This book develops a new and conceptually distinctive analysis of Americanization in European and Japanese industry after the Second World War, based on a rich set of sectoral and firm-based studies by an international group of distinguished scholars. The authors highlight the autonomous and creative role of local actors in selectively adapting US technology and management methods to suit local conditions and, strikingly, in creating new hybrid forms that combined indigenous and foreign practices in unforeseen and often remarkably competitive ways.

Jonathan Zeitlin is Professor of History, Sociology, and Industrial Relations, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA; and Jean Monnet Fellow, European University Institute, Florence, Italy.

Gary Herrigel is Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago, USA.