Introduction
Zaibatsu, the prevailing form of business declined after the Second World War, followed by an economic reform, a new business management form has emerged, which is the Keiretsu system. It continued to be the dominant form of business in the second half of 20th century, yet, the economic recession of Japan in1990s has made people realize the incapability of the old Keiretsu system, reforms of it is needed for revitalizing Japan’s once flourish economy. This paper will examine the role of Keiretsu system in Japan’s economy in detail and discuss the future development of the system.
Merits and Demerits of Keiretsu System
Due to the dissolution of Zaibatsu, many of the machine and military firms, such as Sony, Honda and Matsushita,
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The stable and intimate economic ties between these member companies, which are independently managed, helps to immune companies from fluctuations in stock market or attempts of takeover. Meanwhile, it facilitated the growth of Japan’s economy in the postwar period. Some even viewed the keiretsu system as one of the explanations of Japan’s booming economy after 1945 (Ozkan, 2008), due to its impact in stabilizing the …show more content…
The intimate relationships between Japanese firms and the main banks has made internal cash position less of a constraint to the firms, as they could continue their investments and growth even when they are facing a shortage of cash (Wu et al, 2000). Also, the keiretsu system protected the firms from market failure and reduced the potential financial risks (McGuire & Dow, 2005). The keiretsu system contributes significantly in evening financial burdens in the face of crisis and in merging the goals of profit maximization within the corporate community (Kawai, 2007). The equalizing function immunes firms from the risks of uneven and unbalanced economic improvements of the member firms within the keiretsu system, as both firms acquire the same financial access under the system. Meanwhile, the system also reduced the costs for the firms, as the system allowed firms to form alliance with inter-firm agreements which would lower transaction costs such as coordinating costs, risks of broken contracts and searching costs (Ozkan,
The system’s notable elements mainly consisted in anti-labor and pro-business policies that protected the home market from outside influence with low levels of social welfare spending, making Japan pass through a growth period though, at the same time, such system presented cases of Diet’s unconstitutionalism, corruption scandals, and a lack of organization in more than one aspect.
Its actions have helped initiate new industries, cushion the effects of economic depression, create a sound economic infrastructure, and protect the living standards of the citizenry. Indeed, so pervasive has government influence in the economy seemed that many foreign observers have popularized the term "Japan Inc." to describe its alliance of business and government interests. Whether Japan in the mid-1990s fit this picture seems questionable, but there is little doubt that government agencies continue to influence the economy through a variety of policies. Not only did the American press use the same terms as the federal government, but in doing so it also helped lay the framework of the Japanese- American internment in a completely inaccurate way (Lau, 2014).
Introduction This paper is to research how Tokugawa shogunate could unite Japan. Tokugawa shogunate is an important age of Japanese history, because Tokugawa Ieyasu finished the dispersive Japanese governing of Daimyou to provide sufficient political background to make Japan turn to capitalism. Tokugawa shogunate was the last shogunate of Japan, and it was also a combination between feudalism and capitalism. So researching this period of Japan can also be a way to understand the development and fallen of feudalism during this period around the world.
Beginning from the last years of World War II and then following Japan’s defeat to the allied forces, the Japanese had to endure arguably its most painful few years to date. The majority of Japan’s cities had all been completely destroyed during the war, especially in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where the first atomic bombs were dropped. As a result, the majority of Japanese population had to not only survive the extremes of the seasons in make-shift shelters, but also endure starvation due to the lack of food and water available. However, thanks to the American occupation of Japan following the end of the war, Japan was finally able to recover. The year 1950 turned out to be the beginning of an extended period of Japanese economic and social prosperity. Starting from 1950 to 1990, Japan had experienced unrivalled miraculous economic growth and success in comparison to the majority of other developed countries. For this reason, the Japanese economic success during this period is known by many as the “economic miracle”. There are multiple reasons behind this so called “miracle”, and this essay explores some of these causes. In particular focusing on the major factors which include; the American occupation of Japan, the Korean and Vietnam War as well as social and economic reasons.
Japan is not only a major economic power, it is one of the most economically developed countries in the world. Japan’s economic development begun between the 12th and 17th century, in a period of time that the Japanese refer to as the Edo period. Although specific economic structures didn’t exist at the time, the conditions, both socially and politically, set the Japanese up for a later successful industrialization and modernization. During the Edo period, the ruling government was known as the bakufu. The bakufu had absolute political power over smaller, local governments, however, they lacked a consistent economic stance. Therefore, the local governments, known as the han, were allowed to decide how their people would be taxed, and how administration would work, along with education, industrialization, and issuing paper currency as long as it was not directly prohibited by the bakufu.
In the years immediately following the second Great War, Japan was struck by what some would call an “economic miracle”. This miracle allowed for the industrialized nation of Japan to regain its foothold in the economic sectors of Southeast Asia. Essentially, after the war, the U.S. called for “unconditional surrender and for Japan to be stripped of most of its empire, occupied by allied troops, and demilitarized. Japan would then be integrated into the world economy, and its economic viability would be guaranteed through free trade”
He states that Japan used market capitalism to pursue individual and corporate material wealth. However, China has been far more conservative approach having evolved from Mao Zedong’s planned socialism towards a “functional market socialism”. Further Japan appears to have adopted a far more western attitude more readily in comparison to China.
In the short article of “Yoseba and Ninpudashi” the main point is about how Japanese economy was facing struggle during the Great Heisei Recession. The author was focusing on two important institutions, the Yoseba and the Ninpudashi and how the casual labor market is important. During the 1990s American economy became over a dominant. The United State economy became the “model economy” that other countries would looked up to. In between 1970s to 1980s Japan economy was rising. During WWII Japan went through a struggle and they were rebuilding and recovery from war.
Between 1968 and 1912, Japan was going through a reformation called Meiji Restoration in order make the country strong as western countries. It had caused changes in many parts of Japan such as society, government, military, etc. Some of these changes still can be seen in the Japanese society today such as emperors are honored by Japanese citizens and seen as a special figure. Since this reformation had a great impact on development of Japan, it can be consider as a very important part of Japanese history.This study will seek to answer the question: To what extent did the Meiji Restoration succeeded to reform and strengthen Japan? In order to answer the question, the investigation will analyze military reform and economic reform caused by
Japan emerged from the Tokugawa-Meiji transition as the first Asian industrialized nation. Domestic commercial activities and limited foreign trade had met the demands for material culture in the Tokugawa period, but the modernized Meiji era had radically different requirements. From the beginning, the Meiji rulers embraced the concept of a market economy and adopted British and North American forms of free enterprise capitalism. The private sector — in a nation blessed with an abundance of aggressive entrepreneurs — welcomed such change.
In 1945, Japan was devastated and lost a quarter of the national wealth after suffering a defect in the second world war. A majority of the commercial buildings and accommodation had been demolished, and massive machinery and equipment formerly used in production for the civil market were out of service to provide metal for military supplies (Miyazaki 1967). Despite the trash and ruins had left over in Japan, Japan was able to rebuilding its infrastructure and reconstruct their economy. It is revealed that the Japanese economy was on its way to recovery, which received a rapid development since the war, and the reconstruction of Japan had spent less than forty years to become the world’s second largest economy in the 1980s. This essay will explore the three factors account for the economic growth of post-war Japan: the financial assistance from the United States, the external environment, and the effective policy of Japanese government.
Matsushita did this by closing its fax machine factory in Germany, and closing its microwave oven subsidiary and air-compressor factory in the U.S. Matsushita also asked for more than 10,000 Japanese employees in its manufacturing sector to retire early and all of these closed businesses and cancelled job positions were moved to China. Matsushita’s establishing of the new “brain” in China, or Matsushita Electric R&D Center in Beijing, China, was the company’s second largest of 16 R&D centers around the world. Matsushita’s chairman, Yoichi Morishita said “it was too difficult to explain everything about China to Japanese designers; to really make use of China’s special competitive advantages and to really meet Chinese customers’ demands, Matsushita decided to hand over its China-related development and research issues to local researchers and engineers.” Matsushita decided to localize material supplies and use as many Chinese suppliers as possible for its operations in China because there are several material distribution and trade centers in China that provide steel, paint, hardware, etc. all functioning with a mechanism similar to that of the polystyrene distribution and trade centers. The fourth fundamental change in Matsushita’s new supply chain, Stretch the distribution link, Matsushita selected TCL, the largest TV producer in China, as its strategic partner to stretch its supply chain to Chinese rural and inland markets. With
Banks, specifically, lessen expenses of securing and preparing data about firms and their supervisors and in this manner diminish office costs as they have created ability to recognize great and awful borrowers. Moreover, bank loaning is prone to be critical when financial specialists face ex post good risk issues, with firms of higher recognizable qualities getting from the capital business. Conversely, market-based economies encounter essentially and solidly stronger bounce back than the bank-based ones. In the US, the UK and Japan, the stock exchange assumed an imperative part in financing financial development, while the managing a banking sector assumed a more vital part in Germany, France, Japan and Korea. Besides, the managing a banking sector and stocks in every nation were corresponding to one another during the time spent monetary development aside from the US, where the two segments were gently
The deregulation of financial markets catalysed by Globalisation worldwide has impacted on the amount of trade within the Japanese economy beneficially allowing easier access to foreign currencies, facilitating a higher flow of goods between nation, by relaxing laws that severely prevented foreign buying of currency, and floating the yen. These drivers have helped boost Japan's trade and recovery from its recession. Technology has allowed finances to be traded and communication to be near to instantaneous. This has increased dramatically the amount of FDI into Japan largely thanks to the numerous strategies the Japanese government has taken to promote economic growth and hence development. Finance and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) have increased as a direct result of globalisation doubling from $63 billion in 2001 to $144 billion in
List of abbreviations List of tables Acknowledgements Abstract 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Introduction Problem statement Objectives and hypothesis of the study Literature review Structure and performance of the financial sector in