Kirjahaku

The subject of this book, the persona who shares his story with us, this Glass Eater, is no better or worse than his tormenters. The world is now full of men like him who have moved abroad for economic reasons and find becoming slowly unglued not an unpleasant outcome. They are like college boys who began to cut their classes and found no real consequence to doing so. As lazy as they are naughty, they learn that boredom finds a cure in simple movement. Drifting from one impoverished corner of the globe to another, they leave no wake behind because they matter to no one. As clients of hotels, restaurants, bars and massage parlors, they will scarcely be noticed, much less missed when they move on. When they die, their embassy will attempt to contact relatives and finding none, consign them to a pauper's grave.

Combining case studies with accessible but rigorous production models and historical background, this provocative book challenges accepted views on Japanese production methods in the world car industry. The book argues that the 'lean and flexible' production model popularly associated with Toyota MC is a myth, but one which sheds light on cultural responses to the attendant stresses of globalization. To illustrate this, Dan Coffey provides individual studies of process flexibility, labour productivity and the re-organization of work in the global car industry. Wider evaluations of Japanese impacts on the global economy and a resurgent Western capitalism are then made, progressing the case for a fundamental re-assessment of the narratives informing popular accounts of Japan's manufacturing success. Beginning with the fictionalization of history and propagation of empirical counterfactuals and finishing with observations on the wider impact of the 'lean and flexible' approach, the bold and controversial conclusion reacheld by the author is that what is at stake is our understanding of the form and meaning of 'production fantasy'.The Myth of Japanese Efficiency casts a familiar debate in an unfamiliar light. It will strongly appeal to management and business strategy academics, political economists and industrial sociologists interested in the debate on Fordist versus 'post-Fordist' production methods/'lean and flexible' manufacture and Japanese post-war success in the world market for manufactured goods. Human resource management specialists interested in best production practice will also find much to interest them within this book.

No progressive rock band could ever be said to be a household name, but Van der Graaf Generator, who celebrated their fiftieth anniversary in 2018, rarely enjoyed that distinction even in the households of many prog fans. VdGG, and the band's main creative force, Peter Hammill, only really had one foot in prog - the other pivoted between more straight-ahead rock, wild experimentation, and at times, brutal noise. While VdGG's initial run ended prematurely, the band eventually came full-circle, reforming in 2005 and still going strong. Both Hammill and VdGG have been lauded as musicians' musicians by such luminaries as Peter Gabriel, David Bowie, Julian Cope, Mark E. Smith, and Johnny Rotten. This book will explore what these musicians, and legions of dedicated fans, found so inspiring over the years: all of the VdGG albums, including Pawn Hearts and Godbluff as well as several solo Hammill albums crucial to the VdGG story, are discussed in these pages, including a handful of essential live recordings, experiments, and collaborations. Nothing like this analysis of the band has been published before, and this book will prove an invaluable guide for navigating the Van der Graaf Generator sonic labyrinth.