DOCSLIB.ORG

Trade 2.0 – Japan –

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Trade 2.0 – Japan – ENABLING STARTUP-DRIVEN MARITIME INNOVATION AND TRANSFORMATION TRADE 2.0 – JAPAN – Maritime Startup and Innovation Ecosystem Report A QUIET REVOLUTION Nick Chubb Leonardo Zangrando STARTUP-DRIVEN INNOVATION IS THE NEW DRIVER OF MARITIME TRANSFORMATION FOR AN ETHICAL, SUSTAINABLE AND PROFITABLE MARITIME BUSINESS 4 | TRADE 2.0 JAPAN | Startup and Innovation Ecosystem Report CONTENT Foreword 4 Executive summary 6 Foreword Introduction 7 Japan’s unique maritime advantage 8 Understanding Japan’s innovation We are delighted to be the key sponsor philosophy 8 Lateral thinking with withered of this report, which is the first of a technology 9 series of in-depth profiles into maritime Bringing Japanese innovation to maritime 10 technology and start-ups in a specific The maritime innovation country and builds on the excellent ecosystem in Japan 13 global Trade 2.0 report that we jointly Innovation driven by partnerships 13 Startups wanted 15 launched with the authors in 2019. Supporting homegrown innovation 20 Innovation outlook 22 Japan’s maritime technology market 22 Strategic opportunities for the industry 22 Conclusion 25 Methodology 26 Bibliography 27 Acknowledgements 28 Startup and Innovation Ecosystem Report | TRADE 2.0 JAPAN | 5 Inmarsat’s connections in Japan run long and The introduction of Fleet Xpress four years deep with a Land Earth Station run by our ago, has helped drive levels of connectivity partner KDDI having been operational since that have never been experienced before we formed in 1979. We have since continued bringing the age of the connected ship. to hold a number of longstanding and vital When we first announced our vision of Fleet partnerships with other key partners in the Xpress, our revolutionary, high capacity, country such as JSAT Mobile, JDC, AT global broadband network, nine years ago, Communications and Japan Radio Company many considered it a shot in the dark. At the (JRC), along with counting many of the time, satellite communications were leading shipowners as long-standing and considered to be something of a niche valued clients. industry operating at the periphery of the In 2016 we purposely expanded our Tokyo mainstream, terrestrial telecommunications office to enhance the support we offered the sector. Japanese shipping community as the digital But today we are living in a very different revolution in the maritime industry started to world, one in which satellite communications take off, with Japanese owners at the heart of have become an essential enabler of the the drive for automation, operational emerging global digital society. Satellite efficiencies and greener and safer shipping. connectivity offers unique, mission-critical Owners such as K Line, MOL and NYK that capabilities – reliability, resilience and, above have installed Fleet Xpress are now involved all, the power to deliver applications, such as in ground-breaking projects in operational those covered in the following pages, in data sharing, manned autonomous ships, and real-time and via an established ecosystem. decarbonisation. With our five Global Xpress satellites, and a And, we can’t forget that we are also relying further seven satellites planned by 2023 we on Japan to deliver the first slice of our future are adding additional capacity to the network, with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries launching as well as in-orbit redundancy that further our first I-6 satellite in 2021. upgrades the reliability and resilience of our Working together in partnerships (a theme services. This kind of augmentation will be a that is continuously highlighted in this report) consistent feature in the years to come, as we with companies both large and small will maintain the Fleet Xpress platform at the always bring the most benefits and it’s for cutting edge of innovation in collaboration that reason that we continue to enter with our partners, and continue to enable partnerships with innovative Japanese digital transformation in the shipping companies such as the one we entered this industry. year with Ship Data Centre (ShipDC), the Ronald Spithout data integration company set up by classification society ClassNK and those President, Inmarsat Maritime covered in this report. 6 | TRADE 2.0 JAPAN | Startup and Innovation Ecosystem Report Thanks in part to the keiretsu system of business groupings, much of Japanese innovation is driven by partnerships. Today, those partnerships extend Executive horizontally, outside the vertical keiretsu system and across competitive lines, including the E5 Lab, the Ship Data Centre, and the now shuttered Maritime Summary Innovation Japan Corporation. Recognising that corporate innovation can only go so far, the Japanese maritime industry is now also partnering with startups to explore new technology development. Japan has only a very small startup JAPAN’s maritime industry has been at the forefront ecosystem and so the industry is instead looking out of innovation for a century and a half. Through the to international startups to help them solve big second half of the 20th century, when Japan problems. Large corporations with interests in the became one of the world’s great exporters of industry including NYK Group, Weathernews Inc, consumer technology, the country also cemented its and Mitsui Group have all established joint ventures position as a leading maritime nation. Today, Japan outside Japan, either to develop specific is the world’s third largest economy, the third largest technologies or to engage and build relationships shipbuilding nation, and the second largest ship with local startups. owning nation in the world. The Japanese government is attempting to grow the Japan’s innovation philosophy stems from the local startup ecosystem too, putting together nation’s culture of high context, where relationships programmes to help them trade internationally, and are given as much importance as individual making it easier for foreign entrepreneurs to launch elements in a system. This has led to Japanese businesses in Japan. Along with government engineers being particularly adept at fusing support for startups, there is an opportunity for seemingly unrelated technology disciplines to create shipping companies and shipyards to invest in them. entirely new paradigms. This methodology gave the We know from other maritime startup hubs around world modern day robotics, autopilot, anti-lock the world that “smart money”, where investors have braking systems, and the Nintendo Gameboy. an innate understanding of the industry, is crucial to In the maritime industry, as the traditionally helping startups break into maritime. Internal analogue shipping fleet becomes increasingly projects are also a hugely critical part of the digital, the need to understand the relationships innovation ecosystem, particularly when it comes to between physical and cyber technologies has never addressing strategically important problems that been more important. This puts Japan at a natural need to be solved at scale. advantage over other countries where much of the Looking ahead, it is estimated that Japan’s maritime innovation of the last 30 years has been in software technology market, which is worth $8.8 billion alone. today, will grow to be worth $15.8billion by 2030. A Japanese shipping companies continue to make much faster growth rate than the maritime industry innovation a high priority. Unlike in much of Europe as a whole or the wider economy. Very few other and North America, where innovation is driven by maritime nations have both the technological startups and entrepreneurs, it is large corporate expertise and the industrial scale of Japan. This enterprises that are pushing the technological gives the country huge potential to develop and envelope. In the last five years all of the major implement technology that can enact real change; carriers have trialled and implemented new especially in operational data sharing, manned technology initiatives including computer assisted autonomous ships, and decarbonisation. and augmented reality navigation, a payments app Japan’s lack of startups has not held the maritime for seafarers, and AI driven collision avoidance industry back to date. But it is important to realise systems. that much of the net job creation in Japan over the last few decades has come from entrepreneurs or foreign enterprises. While Japan has an enviable position as a leading maritime nation, one of the keys to unlocking the growth potential of the technology sector is to better support local entrepreneurs and innovators. Combining support for entrepreneurs creating new ideas, with the scale of Japan’s current shipbuilding and ship operating industries could create a force for innovation that is unmatched in the world. Startup and Innovation Ecosystem Report | TRADE 2.0 JAPAN | 7 IN 1878, a steel hull ship was launched from a UK shipyard. The Hideyoshi Maru was ordered by a fledgeling Japanese shipping line. The ship was at the cutting edge of technology. It was the first ship in the world Introduction to be fitted with a three cylinder compound steam engine and had been commissioned to carry coal between Fukuoka Prefecture and Nagasaki Prefecture. Six years later, in 1884, a partnership was formed between 55 small shipowners, including the owner of the over the role startups can play in creating Hideyoshi Maru, to pool their resources and positive change across the shipping industry, investments, creating Osaka Shosen Kaisha it is Japan’s large corporate enterprises that (OSK) Line, the forerunner to Mitsui OSK are breaking
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Foreign Direct Investment and Keiretsu: Rethinking U.S. and Japanese Policy
    This PDF is a selection from an out-of-print volume from the National Bureau of Economic Research Volume Title: The Effects of U.S. Trade Protection and Promotion Policies Volume Author/Editor: Robert C. Feenstra, editor Volume Publisher: University of Chicago Press Volume ISBN: 0-226-23951-9 Volume URL: http://www.nber.org/books/feen97-1 Conference Date: October 6-7, 1995 Publication Date: January 1997 Chapter Title: Foreign Direct Investment and Keiretsu: Rethinking U.S. and Japanese Policy Chapter Author: David E. Weinstein Chapter URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c0310 Chapter pages in book: (p. 81 - 116) 4 Foreign Direct Investment and Keiretsu: Rethinking U.S. and Japanese Policy David E. Weinstein For twenty-five years, the U.S. and Japanese governments have seen the rise of corporate groups in Japan, keiretsu, as due in part to foreign pressure to liberal- ize the Japanese market. In fact, virtually all works that discuss barriers in a historical context argue that Japanese corporations acted to insulate themselves from foreign takeovers by privately placing shares with each other (See, e.g., Encarnation 1992,76; Mason 1992; and Lawrence 1993). The story has proved to be a major boon for the opponents of a neoclassical approach to trade and investment policy. Proponents of the notion of “Japanese-style capitalism” in the Japanese government can argue that they did their part for liberalization and cannot be held responsible for private-sector outcomes. Meanwhile, pro- ponents of results-oriented policies (ROPs) can point to yet another example of how the removal of one barrier led to the formation of a second barrier.
    [Show full text]
  • Sumitomo Corporation's Dirty Energy Trade
    SUMITOMO CORPORATION’S DIRTY ENERGY TRADE Biomass, Coal and Japan’s Energy Future DECEMBER 2019 SUMITOMO CORPORATION’S DIRTY ENERGY TRADE Biomass, Coal and Japan’s Energy Future CONTRIBUTORS Authors: Roger Smith, Jessie Mannisto, Ryan Cunningham of Mighty Earth Translation: EcoNetworks Co. Design: Cecily Anderson, anagramdesignstudio.com Any errors or inaccuracies remain the responsibility of Mighty Earth. 2 © Jan-Joseph Stok / Greenpeace CONTENTS 4 Introduction 7 Japan’s Embrace of Dirty Energy 7 Coal vs the Climate 11 Biomass Burning: Missing the Forest for the Trees 22 Sumitomo Corporation’s Coal Business: Unrepentant Polluter 22 Feeding Japan’s Coal Reliance 23 Building Dirty Power Plants Abroad and at Home 27 Sumitomo Corporation, climate laggard 29 Sumitomo Corporation’s Biomass Business: Trashing Forests for Fuel 29 Global Forests at Risk 34 Sumitomo and Southeastern Forests 39 Canadian Wood Pellet Production 42 Vietnam 44 Sumitomo Corporation and Japanese Biomass Power Plants 47 Sumitomo Corporation and You 47 TBC Corporation 49 National Tire Wholesale 50 Sumitomo Corporation: Needed Policy Changes 3 Wetland forest logging tied to Enviva’s biomass plant in Southampton, North Carolina. Dogwood Alliance INTRODUCTION SUMITOMO CORPORATION’S DIRTY ENERGY TRADE—AND ITS OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE While the rest of the developed world accelerates its deployment of clean, renewable energy, Japan is running backwards. It is putting in place policies which double down on its reliance on coal, and indiscriminately subsidize biomass power technologies that accelerate climate change. Government policy is not the only driver of Japan’s dirty energy expansion – the private sector also plays a pivotal role in growing the country’s energy carbon footprint.
    [Show full text]
  • Keiretsu Divergence in the Japanese Automotive Industry Akira Takeishi, Yoshihisa Noro
    Keiretsu Divergence in the Japanese Automotive Industry Akira Takeishi, Yoshihisa Noro To cite this version: Akira Takeishi, Yoshihisa Noro. Keiretsu Divergence in the Japanese Automotive Industry: Why Have Some, But Not All, Gone?. 2017. hal-02952225 HAL Id: hal-02952225 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02952225 Preprint submitted on 29 Sep 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike| 4.0 International License CEAFJP Discussion Paper Series 17-04 CEAFJPDP Keiretsu Divergence in the Japanese Automotive Industry: Why Have Some, But Not All, Gone? Akira Takeishi Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University CEAFJP Visiting Researcher Yoshihisa Noro Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc. August 2017 http://ffj.ehess.fr KEIRETSU DIVERGENCE IN THE JAPANESE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY: WHY HAVE SOME, BUT NOT ALL, GONE? August 2, 2017 Akira Takeishi Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University; Visiting Researcher (October 2015- July 2016), Fondation France-Japon de l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales e-mail address: [email protected] Yoshihisa Noro Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc. ABSTRACT The keiretsu relationship in the Japanese automotive industry was once admired as a source of competitive advantage.
    [Show full text]
  • Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group CSR Report Digest Version
    Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group CSR Report Digest version www.smfg.co.jp/english Today, Tomorrow and Beyond First,First, I wouldwould likelike toto extendextend ourour deepestdeepest sympathiessympathies andand heartfeltheartfelt condolencescondolences toto allall thosethose whowho havehave sufferedsuffered andand INDEX toto tthehe ffamiliesamilies andand ffriendsriends ooff tthosehose wwhoho ttragicallyragically llostost ttheirheir llivesives iinn thethe devastatingdevastating earthquakeearthquake andand tsunamitsunami Foreword 1 thatthat struckstruck northeasternnortheastern JapanJapan onon MarchMarch 11,11, 2011.2011. WeWe praypray forfor thethe earlyearly recoveryrecovery ofof thethe affectedaffected peoplepeople andand areas.areas. Commitment from the Top 3 A Conversation with Tadao Ando, SMFGSMFG isis dedicateddedicated toto seamlesslyseamlessly respondingresponding toto clients’clients’ needsneeds byby leveragingleveraging ourour group-widegroup-wide capabilities,capabilities, Takeshi Kunibe and Koichi Miyata What can we do now to spur the reconstruction and revitalization of Japan, offeringoffering optimaloptimal pproductsroducts aandnd sservices,ervices, aandnd eensuringnsuring tthathat eeveryvery employeeemployee andand thethe overalloverall groupgroup areare capablecapable ofof and help resolve global issues? respondingresponding ttoo tthehe challengeschallenges ooff gglobalization.lobalization. I bbelieveelieve tthathat throughthrough thesethese measures,measures, Measures to Support Reconstruction after the March 11 President
    [Show full text]
  • Whither the Keiretsu, Japan's Business Networks? How Were They Structured? What Did They Do? Why Are They Gone?
    IRLE IRLE WORKING PAPER #188-09 September 2009 Whither the Keiretsu, Japan's Business Networks? How Were They Structured? What Did They Do? Why Are They Gone? James R. Lincoln, Masahiro Shimotani Cite as: James R. Lincoln, Masahiro Shimotani. (2009). “Whither the Keiretsu, Japan's Business Networks? How Were They Structured? What Did They Do? Why Are They Gone?” IRLE Working Paper No. 188-09. http://irle.berkeley.edu/workingpapers/188-09.pdf irle.berkeley.edu/workingpapers Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Working Paper Series (University of California, Berkeley) Year Paper iirwps-- Whither the Keiretsu, Japan’s Business Networks? How Were They Structured? What Did They Do? Why Are They Gone? James R. Lincoln Masahiro Shimotani University of California, Berkeley Fukui Prefectural University This paper is posted at the eScholarship Repository, University of California. http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/iirwps-188-09 Copyright c 2009 by the authors. WHITHER THE KEIRETSU, JAPAN’S BUSINESS NETWORKS? How were they structured? What did they do? Why are they gone? James R. Lincoln Walter A. Haas School of Business University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720 USA ([email protected]) Masahiro Shimotani Faculty of Economics Fukui Prefectural University Fukui City, Japan ([email protected]) 1 INTRODUCTION The title of this volume and the papers that fill it concern business “groups,” a term suggesting an identifiable collection of actors (here, firms) within a clear-cut boundary. The Japanese keiretsu have been described in similar terms, yet compared to business groups in other countries the postwar keiretsu warrant the “group” label least.
    [Show full text]
  • Case Studies in Change from the Japanese Automotive Industry
    UC Berkeley Working Paper Series Title Keiretsu, Governance, and Learning: Case Studies in Change from the Japanese Automotive Industry Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/43q5m4r3 Authors Ahmadjian, Christina L. Lincoln, James R. Publication Date 2000-05-19 eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Institute of Industrial Relations University of California, Berkeley Working Paper No. 76 May 19, 2000 Keiretsu, governance, and learning: Case studies in change from the Japanese automotive industry Christina L. Ahmadjian Graduate School of Business Columbia University New York, NY 10027 (212)854-4417 fax: (212)316-9355 [email protected] James R. Lincoln Walter A. Haas School of Business University of California at Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720 (510) 643-7063 [email protected] We are grateful to Nick Argyres, Bob Cole, Ray Horton, Rita McGrath, Atul Nerkar, Toshi Nishiguchi, Joanne Oxley, Hugh Patrick, Eleanor Westney, and Oliver Williamson for helpful comments. We also acknowledge useful feedback from members of the Sloan Corporate Governance Project at Columbia Law School. Research grants from the Japan – U. S. Friendship Commission, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and the Clausen Center for International Business and Policy of the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley are also gratefully acknowledged. Keiretsu, governance, and learning: Case studies in change from the Japanese automotive industry ABSTRACT The “keiretsu” structuring of assembler-supplier relations historically enabled Japanese auto assemblers to remain lean and flexible while enjoying a level of control over supply akin to that of vertical integration. Yet there is much talk currently of breakdown in keiretsu networks.
    [Show full text]
  • Japanese Business Concepts You Should Know
    1 Japanese Business Concepts You Should Know Edited by Parissa Haghirian Sophia University Tokyo, Japan 2 Contents About this Book ......................................................................................... 4 The Editor ................................................................................................ 5 Japanese Business Concepts You Should Know ................................................. 6 Contributors of This Book ............................................................................ 94 Bibliography ............................................................................................ 96 Further Reading on Japanese Management .................................................... 102 3 About this Book This book is the result of one of my “Management in Japan” classes held at the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Sophia University in Tokyo. Students wrote this dictionary entries, I edited and updated them. The document is now available as a free e-book at my homepage www.haghirian.com. We hope that this book improves understanding of Japanese management and serves as inspiration for anyone interested in the subject. Questions and comments can be sent to [email protected]. Please inform the editor if you plan to quote parts of the book. Japanese Business Concepts You Should Know Edited by Parissa Haghirian First edition, Tokyo, October 2019 4 The Editor Parissa Haghirian is Professor of International Management at Sophia University in Tokyo. She lives and works in Japan since 2004
    [Show full text]
  • JAPANSKE PRIVREDNE GRUPACIJE KEIRETSU - UZROK USPEHA ILI Mr Jelena Srbinovski
    originalni naučni UDK 334.75/.76(52) rad JAPANSKE PRIVREDNE GRUPACIJE KEIRETSU - UZROK USPEHA ILI mr Jelena Srbinovski Fakultet za međunarodnu ekonomiju, Megatrend univerzitet PROPASTI VELIKIH [email protected] BANAKA Rezime mr Ranka Mitrović Fakultet za poslovne studije, Keiretsu ili grupa kompanija predstavlja korporativno udruživanje Megatrend univerzitet [email protected] tipično za Japan koje se javlja nakon Drugog svetskog rata. Smatra se da je keiretsu sistem imao značajnu ulogu u privrednom oporavku i rastu Japana u posleratnom periodu, a često je navođen kao jedan od faktora koji su doprineli velikoj konkurentnosti japanskih kompanija sedamdesetih i osamdesetih godina 20. veka. Međutim, ovaj sistem je u drugoj polovini osamdesetih godina pokazao svoje slabosti, a tokom devedesetih pretrpeo velike promene. Japanske kompanije i bankarski sistem su u ovom periodu bili izloženi velikim gubicima. Keiretsu grupacije se danas navode kao jedan od uzroka propasti velikih banaka, pa se uspešnost ovih grupacija dovodi u pitanje. Ključne reči: horizontalni kerecu, vertikalni kerecu, banka, kriza, japanske kompanije, privreda JEL: G32, L14, L22 4 2013 Rad primljen: 10.04.2013. Odobren za štampu: 03.06.2013. bankarstvo 146 original UDC 334.75/.76(52) scientific paper JAPANESE KEIRETSU COMPANY GROUPS - CAUSE OF SUCCESS OR Jelena Srbinovski, MSc Graduate School of International COLLAPSE OF LARGE Economics, Megatrend University [email protected] BANKS Ranka Mitrović, MSc Graduate School of Business Studies, Megatrend University [email protected] Summary Keiretsu or company groups represent a specific Japanese form of corporate association that appeared after the Second World War. It is believed that the keiretsu system has played a significant role in the economic recovery and growth of Japan in the post-war period, and has often been cited as one of the factors that have contributed to the high competitiveness of Japanese companies during the 1970s and 1980s.
    [Show full text]
  • Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc
    UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM 20-F (Mark One) ‘ REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR (g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 OR È ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2014 OR ‘ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the transition period from to OR ‘ SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 Date of event requiring this shell company report Commission file number: 001-34919 Kabushiki Kaisha Mitsui Sumitomo Financial Group (Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter) SUMITOMO MITSUI FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. (Translation of registrant’s name into English) Japan 1-2, Marunouchi 1-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0005, Japan (Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) (Address of principal executive offices) Haruyuki Nagata 1-2, Marunouchi 1-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0005, Japan Telephone: +81-3-3282-8111 Facsimile: +81-3-4333-9954 (Name, telephone, e-mail and/or facsimile number and address of company contact person) Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act Title of Each Class Name of Each Exchange on which registered Common stock, without par value The New York Stock Exchange* * Not for trading, but only in connection with the listing of the American Depositary Shares, each American Depositary Share representing 1/5 of one share of the registrant’s common stock.
    [Show full text]
  • Keiretsu: Past, Present and Future
    World Applied Sciences Journal 26 (12): 1569-1573, 2013 ISSN 1818-4952 © IDOSI Publications, 2013 DOI: 10.5829/idosi.wasj.2013.26.12.13592 Keiretsu: Past, Present and Future Natalia Victorovna Kuznetsova Far Eastern Federal University, v. Ayaks, Russkii Island, Russia Submitted: Oct 24, 2013; Accepted: Nov 30, 2013; Published: Dec 4, 2013 Abstract: This article presents the questions about changing of the integrative Japanese corporate structures - keiretsu, which is now a topic for many discussions. It was analyzed a number of Japanese and European economist’s points of view about the influence of keiretsu on the economic development. It is proved in this article that even in the conditions of increasing instability of the economic environment; the vertical keiretsu structure is more efficient form of organization than the vertically integrated corporations in the United States. Key words: Keiretsu Inter-company mergers Integrated corporate structure The vertical keiretsu economic development Competition Management structures Corporate governance INTRODUCTION Nobuaki considered that "Toyota group" can be refer to "vertical keiretsu" and "Mitsubishi" and "Sumitomo" calls The Japanese model is characterized by a long-term "horizontal keiretsu" [2, p.3]. R. Hart and S. Kawasaki investment strategy in the industry and the close believe that development of keiretsu systems allowed to relations between the industrial and financial sectors. reduce the costs of transactions of inter-firm interaction The distinctive feature is a tendency for cooperation. arising from natural and specially supported the Economic units are closely connected to each other asymmetry of information [3]. K. Miyashita and D. W. through the mechanism of cross-shareholding, forming a Russell said that the distinguishing feature of the keiretsu corporate group.
    [Show full text]
  • Whither the Keiretsu, Japan's Business Networks? How Were They Structured? What Did They Do? Why Are They Gone?
    UC Berkeley Working Paper Series Title Whither the Keiretsu, Japan's Business Networks? How Were They Structured? What Did They Do? Why Are They Gone? Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/00m7d34g Authors Lincoln, James R. Shimotani, Masahiro Publication Date 2009-09-24 eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California WHITHER THE KEIRETSU, JAPAN’S BUSINESS NETWORKS? How were they structured? What did they do? Why are they gone? James R. Lincoln Walter A. Haas School of Business University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720 USA ([email protected]) Masahiro Shimotani Faculty of Economics Fukui Prefectural University Fukui City, Japan ([email protected]) 1 INTRODUCTION The title of this volume and the papers that fill it concern business “groups,” a term suggesting an identifiable collection of actors (here, firms) within a clear-cut boundary. The Japanese keiretsu have been described in similar terms, yet compared to business groups in other countries the postwar keiretsu warrant the “group” label least. The prewar progenitor of the keiretsu, the zaibatsu, however, could fairly be described as groups, and, in their relatively sharp boundaries, hierarchical structure, family control, and close ties to the state were structurally similar to business groups elsewhere in the world. With the break-up by the U. S. Occupation of the largest member firms, the purging of their executives, and the outlawing of the holding company structure that held them together, the zaibatsu were transformed into quite different business entities, what we and other literature call “network forms” of organization (Podolny and Page, 1998; Miyajima, 1994).
    [Show full text]
  • THE STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT of KOREAN and JAPANESE BIG BUSINESS GROUPS: a Comparison Study Between Korean General Trading Companies and Japanese Sogo Shoshas
    THE STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF KOREAN AND JAPANESE BIG BUSINESS GROUPS: A Comparison Study between Korean General Trading Companies and Japanese Sogo Shoshas by IN WOO JUN A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Management The Birmingham Business School The University of Birmingham August, 2009 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This research is an in-depth study of Korean GTCs (General Trading Companies) and Japanese Sogo Shoshas (the Japanese version of General Trading Companies), which are unique big business conglomerates but not well-known in Western countries. It investigates and compares several of their features, such as their history, characteristics, functions, organisational structure, corporate culture, human resource management, their impact on national economic development, strategic management and decision-making process. First, it examines a wide range of literature to show the functions of Korean GTCs and Japanese Sogo Shoshas as transaction intermediaries, information gatherers, project organisers, international marketers, financial providers, etc. With these varied functions, they have played significant roles not only from the macro aspect, but also the micro aspect.
    [Show full text]