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This research aims to see whether replication occurs with the focus on the Japanese HR system, following the latest studies on expatriate management in Japan. Whereas the total number of self-initiated expatriates has hugely increased in Japan, the high turnover rate is a big issue. Can this also be evidenced with new data? How does the Japanese HR system, with its notorious reputation for unique people management methods, relate to the expats' reasons for staying in the long or short term?

Replication of research is adopted here with an interview-based qualitative method using the same research design as previous literature. The previous research focused on Chinese and Vietnamese self-initiated expatriates, who occupy the majority of expatriate positions in Japan. This study has a new target group of Thai expatriates, who have a relatively higher educational background than some other expatriates and are expected by the Japanese firms to stay over the long term.

Replication of the findings of the latest studies occurs in this research. The turnover rate is as high as other national expatiates, with similar reasons, related to the Japanese HR system. However, there are also different issues. The main reasons they give for not staying in the long-term are unhealthy work habits, followed by slower promotion and ambiguous work content/role. The Japanese HR system is a dehumanising mechanism leading to a stressful work environment, which is the most critical concern for them and the main reason they choose not to remain in the long term.

Past studies indicate an expectation gap between Japanese firms and expatriates, which is also found in this study. Additionally, an assumption gap between them about security under the HR system is also confirmed. Security means working healthily for expatriates while it means long-term employment for Japanese firms.

Japan has recently opened its doors to welcome them in order to reduce the labour shortage in the domestic market. Peltokorpi and Froese (2009) indicated that Japan has a challenging workplace and system for foreigners. It is clear that Japanese firms have not really been ready to take on self-initiated expatriates in spite of their rapid acceptance of them. This research, therefore aims to explore how international labourers have worked in Japan and how well they have really been fitted into the unique Japanese work environment, especially its HR system.

This research examined the issues from the both angle of Japanese firms and from the point of view of international labour through interview-based qualitative research method. The author analysed both data gained from 16 Japanese staff members including human resource management staff members of leading Japanese firms and 40 international workers. The data were analysed through ethnographical investigations of the current situation between Japanese firms and international labour. There has still been a lack of studies using interview-based qualitative method as introduced under the literature reviews.

Although the issues occurring in the UK and US as regards pay and discrimination from local workers (e.g. Baruch et al., 2013) seem not to be shared by international workers in Japanese firms, other unique issues have arisen under the traditional HR system. There is a gap between Japanese firms' expectations and international labour' expectations; the former expects the latter to stay for the long term, while the latter prefers variety of job experiences in order to quickly develop skills. Under the traditional Japanese HR system, both sides seem to suffer if they work together for long.

The relationship between international labour in Japan and Japanese firms has been examined. Such both angles brought about expectation gap between both sides as mentioned above. While Japanese staff members have enjoyed the benefits of the secure HR system (Dore, 2000), self-initiated expatriates do not necessarily need these benefits.

This research aims to explore whether or not the widely adopted diversity management strategy of Japanese firms aids female self-initiated expatriates' careers. Japan is famous for its male-dominated society (e.g. Hofstede, 2003), which seems to conflict with the recent fading of this strategy in Japanese firms. To what extent does the strategy work for Japanese organisations and how do female self-initiated expatriates perceive it?

An interview-based qualitative methodology is used to collect testimony from female self-initiated expatriates who are currently working fulltime in Japanese firms. The interviews were conducted with 22 female expats who come from 13 different countries.

Although the strategy aims for equality, gender still matters in Japanese society and within firms. The interviews found that male-centred rules set out every single step for local employees' behaviours. “Male things” are defined everywhere at work, which makes female expats sceptical of Japan and Japanese firms. The dynamics of the male-based rule seem to eliminate female expats from the centre of organisational society.

Discussion over female expatriates has been increasing due to the frequent movement of international labour to Japan. Also gender fairness has been pushed by the international community, including Japanese. These factors, however, have yet to be explored in the context of the Japanese workplace for female international expatriates. What do we know about female expats working in Japan? What does the male dominance mean for female expats? This study provides an initial insight on female and expatriate diversity management in Japan.

Korean firms are in the process of transforming their human resource management (HRM) systems to compete effectively in the global market. Whereas the traditional HRM system emphasized group harmony and age norms, the “new HR policy” emphasizes a performance‐based system. Whether the new HR policy can achieve its objectives remains to be seen. This radical change from the traditional HRM system to a new one is likely to cause a variety of problems. Discusses, specifically, four potential problems in the case of Samsung.

Based on the international human resource management perspective, this paper aims to explore and explain the human resource (HR) practices of Japanese multinational companies (MNCs) operating in India.

This paper applies a qualitative methodology. The study is based on 17 semi-structured interviews that were conducted within the subsidiaries of 10 Japanese MNCs in India.

The respective HR practices are differently influenced by cultural and institutional factors. Cultural similarity, unique social context and the evolving labor market shape the HR practices of Japanese MNCs in the Indian context.

The generalizability of findings might be limited because of the nature of methodology. Future research could collect additional qualitative data and conduct quantitative studies to test the findings of this research.

A unique combination of HR practices could be formed by addressing the changes in the local institutional environment and retaining the core philosophy of the parent company.

This research adds value to the transfer-adaptation dichotomy by presenting how institutional and cultural factors differently influence the transfer of respective HR practices.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of employment systems on productivity performance in Japanese companies from the perspective of data envelopment analysis (DEA) and sustainable human resource management (HRM).

In all, three employment models including employment indicators in addition to financial indicators are examined between 2006 and 2012 with 2,738 listed Japanese companies. This study verifies robustness of the results by testing multiple DEA measurements and conducting industrial analysis.

The results indicate employment systems influence productivity performance in Japanese companies and the characteristics of Japanese employment systems harm productivity performance. In particular, higher liquidity of human resource is essential contrary to the philosophy of long-term employment. Furthermore, new initiatives such as promotion opportunities for women have not been successful up to now.

This study investigates limited aspects of HRM practices and employment systems in Japanese companies due to data availability. This study is designed to investigate mainly organizational outcome considering sustainability. More research is needed to identify comprehensive influence from Japanese employment system not only on corporate performance but also reduction of harm on a variety of stakeholders such as employee, community and government.

These findings suggest that it is necessary for executives in Japanese companies to pay attention to their HRM practices under Japanese employment system, in particular, entry and exit of human resource and support systems for female employees.

There are few studies that investigate the relationship between employment system and productivity performance in Japanese companies. This research provides empirical evidence for potential influence of the Japanese employment system.

Examines the human resource (HR) policies adopted by two Japanese retail stores in Hong Kong. Finds that the two Japanese retail stores employ different HR policies in terms of recruitment and selection, remuneration and welfare, and training and development for different groups of employees within the same Hong Kong operation. The implementation of the different HR policies for different groups of employees is attributable, first, to the influence of the parent company’s environment ‐ socio‐economic conditions, characteristics of the top management, corporate strategy and use of technology in the parent company; and, second, to the different types of employee in the two stores in Hong Kong ‐ the male and female expatriates among the parent‐country nationals (PCNs), and the professionals with high levels of skill, full‐time managers and employees with lower level skills, and part‐time employees among the home‐country nationals (HCNs).

The purpose of this paper is to examine the strategic integration of HRM practices with business/corporate strategy in the context of its applications and processes in two Japanese multinational companies in Malaysia.

The research used mixed‐methodology via case studies and questionnaire surveys. Overall 29 questionnaires, 15 from Company A and 14 from Company B were returned and analyzed for a response rate of 58 per cent. In addition, 15 respondents were interviewed, including Executive Director, Head of HR and line managers.

Analysis of questionnaire responses and interview findings shows strategic integration of HRM practices has been adopted by both organizations, though their approaches vary slightly. Importantly, the involvement of HR at board level, direct reporting of HR to the CEOs and the organization's supportive culture symbolize the integrative approach to HRM. Additionally, the findings indicate that although company strategies are in place, other factors such as business credibility of the HR manager and the level of commitment and support from CEOs and line management commitment are important determinants of strategic integration of HRM practices.

The influence of Japanese management practices which has similar characteristics of high performance work system (HPWS) and resource‐based view (RBV) approach that emphasizes participatory decision making and construe employees and HR function not as cost burdens but as sources of competitive advantage are important predictors of higher and effective strategic integration.

The paper provides some insights into approaches to strategic integration of HRM practices in two Japanese multinational companies in Malaysia.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between human resource (HR) policies, management accounting and organisational performance in Canada, Japan and the UK.

A cross case analysis of the observations emerging from each of six case studies (two in Canada, two in Japan and two in the UK) result in a set of 13 findings.

The seven main HR policies emerging from this study are the “job for life” (in one British and two Japanese cases), recruitment, training, performance‐related bonus scheme, teamwork, organisational culture and pensions. Important communication links between HR managers and management accountants are budgets, strategic plans, performance‐related bonus scheme and decision making. The “job for life” policy, employee recruitment decisions, viewing employees as assets (rather than costs), training, performance‐related bonus scheme, teamwork, organisational culture and a good pension scheme all had an impact on organisational performance.

It is very difficult to link specific HR policies with changes in organisational performance because of the number of other variables affecting organisational performance and the time lags involved.

Several of the case studies are making real progress in establishing links between specific HR policies and changes in organisational performance by using benchmarking or employee opinion surveys or a combination of the results of both external benchmarking and employee opinion surveys over a number of years.

This paper aims at analyzing the underlying factors that encourage an increasing number of Japanese workers to move across the corporate boundaries in the course of career development, and then understanding the nature and the consequences of the corporate human resource practices in response to it.

The authors chose the Japanese hotel industry as the research object, since it is perceived as one of the industries in which the boundaryless career‐seeking behavior is more remarkable than others. A total of 18 hotel employees, including hotel managers, were approached as the samples of in‐depth interviews.

A grounded theory‐based analysis of the data collected has led to a causal relation map, which describes the relationship between their orientation in career development and the corporate human resource practices in response to it. The adaptive human resource practices had an influence on the behaviors of workers and furthermore made the mobility in workforce higher. In such circumstances, companies need to clarify the boundary between the core and the periphery within an organization for the purpose of protecting organizational knowledge, while the usual corporate boundary fades out.

This paper researched Japan's hotel industry by in‐depth interviews and led to several findings. Future study should include more industries as a research site and quantitative analysis to generalize the findings.

Past research in the business organization studies indicates that organizational knowledge is one of the salient factors that encompass a firm's competitive advantage, and its accumulation is created by the human resources in a given organization. If this holds true, the increasing fluidity of workers beyond the organizational boundaries might well affect a firm's generation and retention of its organizational knowledge. This paper describes the prospects and a way out of this phenomenon.