(Only) Just-In-Time: Japanisation and the `Non-Learning' Firm

This article examines the events within a small manufacturing organisation during a period of `adoption' by a larger customer organisation. The focus of the study concerns the nature and level of adaptation to Japanese manufacturing methods through the customer's influence. The particular circumstances of the two companies at the outset was an ideal scenario for what just-in-time lIT) and Total Quality Management (TQM) protagonists have termed `supplier adoption' and what others have defined as `emulation' within a process of `Japanisation'. The findings indicate that while there are pressures in working for a JIT customer, the outcome is not the mere reciprocation of JIT methodology within a supplier. Reasons for this lack of adaptation are proposed and implications for the debate on Japanisation and the supply-chain labour process are discussed.