The idea that management phenomena can or should be addressed by using a uniform set of management tools and concepts worldwide was challenged during Japan’s halcyon days in the 1970s and 1980s, when management techniques and values were incorporated from Japan into Western management teaching.
In their book Asian Versus Western Management Thinking: Its Cultural-Bound Nature, IESE’s Kimio Kase, Alesia Slocum and Yingying Zhang reflect on how the East and West are divided by fundamental differences in their approaches to learning.
The East tends toward “inductive thinking” and the West, “deductive thinking.” The authors posit that embracing or even synthesizing both approaches could lead to better strategic and managerial solutions.
