七十年代后期和八十年代初,美国的生产管理遇到了新问题。资本主义的结构性和周期性经济矛盾的加剧,再次十分明显地暴露出生产力发展的水平与生产关系的不相适应。在六十年代,当时在管理领域中“美国的挑战”被认为是美国的经济和科技在资本主义世界处于领先地位的主要原因。然而,现在的情景正好相反。今天,美国人异口同声地谈论在管理、生产组织和科技进步方面“日本的挑战”,企图寻找一种日本公司在与竞争者斗争中获胜的“合理因素”。根据一些评价,管理达到高水平的工业公司的比重,美国占其总数的四分之一,而日本则占四分之三。 In the late seventies and early eighties, the United States encountered new problems in its production management. The intensification of the structural and periodic economic contradictions of capitalism once again clearly reveals that the level of development of the productive forces is incompatible with the relations of production. In the 1960s, the “then American challenge” in the management field at that time was considered the leading cause of the leading position of the U.S. economy and science and technology in the capitalist world. However, the current situation is just the opposite. Today, the Americans talk unanimously of the “Japan’s challenge” in management, production organization and technological progress in an attempt to find a “reasonable factor” for Japanese companies to win in the struggle against their competitors. According to some estimates, the share of industrial companies that have achieved high levels of management is controlled by the United States, which accounts for a quarter of the total, compared with three quarters in Japan.