The differences in roles between individuals in Western factories and in Japanese factories - the ways in which individuals are given responsibility and authority, what rewards are given, and behaviors are rewarded - have a close relationship with the differences between their two cultural backgrounds. Japanese industry has for decades coated the top of a very and once feudal society for several centuries. The loyalty of workers to industrial organization, the paternal style of motivating and paying workers, the deep involvement of the company in all things which were to the eyes of the workers' private affairs - all of these had something in common with Japanese pre-industrial social organization. This equation does not underestimate the massive changes that have taken place in Japan during its industrialization period. Japan has changed enormously; and the changes continue. However, if the study of industrialization in Japan is to be relevant for the study of economic development in other Asian nations, then the nature of the changes that have occurred must be well understood.

One of the latest tests to see whether one day or an industrial organization is functioning successfully or less successfully is the product units of that system. This assessment is not directly about the physical equipment, technology, or products of Japanese factories or about capital expenditures, and the stage of the companies being studied. However, there is a close relationship between social organization and the special attention currently paid to the question of productivity, apparently considering some special consideration of the problems which increase the effort to increase productivity in the large Japanese factories. Productivity - of course - is a relative measure, and the standard commonly used by Japanese executives is the output and cost of American factory production. In general, Japanese executives do not flatter their company when it comes to making such comparisons. Estimates need to be rough, and it can be difficult to mislead them to try to get an exact value. However, in comparing their factories to American factories producing the same goods, very few Japanese executives would speculate on a measure of productivity.