日本财阀系列企业体系Keiretsu历史背景和面临问题.docx

1、日本财阀系列企业体系Keiretsu历史背景和面临问题Question One: Compare the post-war Keiretsu inter-firm structure in Japan with the pre-war Zaibatsus. Explain the reasons why the Keiretsu were important to Japans economy in the 1950-1990 period, and why they are now considered to be a major cause of its current structura

2、l problems.IntroductionThis paper reviews major theoretical and empirical work on comparing the Keiretsu and Zaibatsus as well as the importance of Keiretsus in the process of Japan development during the 1950s to early 1990s. Firstly, I compare the pre-war Zaibatsus with the post-war Keiretsu in co

3、ncepts, history, structures and governance perspectives. This article will reviews major theoretical and empirical work on vertical and horizontal Japanese keiretsu. I then discuss changes in the Japanese economy during the post-war period from 1950s till 1992 Japanese economic decline and their imp

4、lications for the persistence and continued benefits of each form of inter-corporate grouping followed by a discussion of facts regarding the role of keiretsu in the Japanese economy. Thirdly, this article will analyse the structural problems of Keiretsus on the globalisation context.Backgrounds of

5、Zaibatsus and Keiretsus in JapanJapanese Zaibatsus developed mostly from the Meiji era (1868-1912). By the turn of the century, Japan had given birth to several groups of widely diversified companies, each of them owned and operated by a single family. With the wealth expansion of these families, th

6、ey became the nations new aristocracy, the “financial cliques” or the Zaibatsus. The Zaibatsu is generally understood to be a diverse group of large industries controlled by a single family, usually through a central holding company. According to Miyashita and Russell (1994), a Zaibatsu is “nothing

7、more than a large industrial combine” on its initial strcuture. The actual growth of the Zaibatsus began in 1914, World War, Japan supplied munitions and other goods to the Allies. Without the competition from European companies, Japanese firms were free to expand internationally. During that five y

8、ears, the export of Japan increased 266%. The Big Four-Zaibatsus are Mitsui, Sumitomo, Mitsubishi and Yasuda used their profits to start their own bank. The Americans initially wanted to dissolve all the zaibatsu after World War, as they saw them as undemocratic and the finance behind the militarist

9、ic government of the 1930s (see Even though Japans economy made huge strides in economic reformation after the WW, the Zaibatsu interests began to enter the political arena to support their interests. Their activities became entwined with the government in wartime Japan. Eventually, the Potsdam Decl

10、aration that was signed in 1945 required the liquidation of the Zaibatsu to democratize Japans postwar economy. As explained in the previous article, by 1945 the zaibatsu had grown to control a significant portion of Japanese trade and industry. In addition, for the purpose of controlling economic p

11、ower, special provisions were included in Japans Antimonopoly Act for the specific purpose of forbidding holding companies and limiting the acquisition by financial enterprises of stock of other companies. In hindsight these provisions might appear to have been ineffective barriers to the creation o

12、f excessive economic control and equally ineffective as measures to ensure competition in Japans economy. These arguments were made when Japan enacted the Act for partial Amendment of the Antimonopoly Act in 1997 by which act Japan finally eliminated the 50year old ban on holding companies.Compare p

13、re-war Zaibatsus with the post-war KeiretsusThe zaibatsu is a diversified group of businesses owned by a family. Mostly had origins in non-manufacturing sectors in mining, shipping and most importantly, banking. Then diversified not by integration but by shareholdings and representatives on Boards o

14、f Directors of separate firms. The Keiretsus are conglomerates similar to pre-war Zaibatsus but not family owned and with a bank at its heart and with one of the following forms (Miwa, 2003):1. General trading company able to handle gigantic and diverse volume of commerce2. Production oriented group

15、3. Distribution oriented group based on network of small retailers4. Large retail or RR companiesWithin years of dismantling the Zaibatsu, changes on both the domestic and international fronts are thought to have led to a relaxation of regulations upon the concentration of economic power in Japan. O

16、n the latter front, following the establishment of communist China, . foreign policy toward Japan could be seen shifting to one supporting a shoring up of Japans economic power. Secondly, industrial growth and increased production capacity in Japan supported the . need for supplies during the Korean

17、 War. Under this circumstance, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) helped Zaibatsus to reform with personnel and new organizational structure. The personnel system including dispatching senior managers form main banks and sogo shosha to smaller firms aims to tight the horizontal

18、connections in order to keep a controlled decision making process. Keiretsus include horizontal and vertical company relationships, and sometimes business ties that are held together not by capital but by mere transactional relationships among enterprises. The central role of main banks in corporate

19、 governance greatly distinguishes these groups from the Zaibatsus. Viewing this development from Zaibatsu the Keiretsu as a whole, the following two points seen characteristic. First, in the pre-war Zaibatsu the links in the enterprise groups were centred on the commercial sector of their businesses

20、. On the contrast, the post-war Keiretsus were paying attentions on heavy and chemical industry sector. Second, the Zaibatsus linked vertically and topped by a holding family for the whole group. By comparison, the Keiretsus are centred on financial institutions (main banks) and linked the enterpris

21、es horizontally with newly formed enterprise groups.PEST analysis on the importance of Keiretsus in Japans post-war developmentPolitical: Competitions among countries had a great impact on the development of Japan. The government set the industrial structure of the country with high-standard process

22、ing trade (Russell, 1994). Keiretsus horizontal networks can be a competitive advantage due to the networks can supervise the whole process from manufacturing to retailing. With the assistance of sogo shoshas entry to certain country-wide markets, Japan can easily sustain this “input-output synergie

23、s” competitive advantage. The Mitsui China Representative office vice president Wei of once mentioned in an interview “We wont manufacture illegal things, but we are able to manufacture anything else with the Keiretsu networks.”( see During the 1950s to 1990s, Japan experienced three depressions: th

24、e oil price increased in the 1970s made the GDP growth rate in Japan came to a negative growth in 1974 (see The Plaza Accord indirectly let to the bubble economy in Japan. Faced a relatively unfavourable domestic economical context, the competitive advantage of Keiretsus including the Big Six and ot

25、her firms are making efforts to strengthen their own groups, and at the frontiers of the new industries which have been developed in Japan since the war, they have been competing against one another with out quarter in equipment investment. This is not only in the case of oil-chemicals industry but

26、also in the motor vehicles. Nine manufacturers in addition to Toyota and Nissan are competing to increase their shares in the market. In this case, Japans productive potential has risen rapidly and has realized a degree of high growth which is literally the highest In the world.Apart from external c

27、ompetitive advantages, the internal financial networks also made a great contribution to the rapid growth of Keiretsus and in return to the whole Japan economy. The input-output synergies made the profit-trapping possible. Whats more, the main bank financing and cross-shareholding promoted the capit

28、al market of Japan developed fast as well as way to maintain anti-takeover and encouraging risk taking situation. Social and technological: The labour force assessment of Keiretsus can be identified as follow, until quite recently, a continual supply of superior labour of both with good quality and

29、readily adaptable to modern technology was available. Additionally, the Keiretsus tendency to invest was never subject to restriction from this aspect. The new personnel rotation and loan of personnel system make sure the connection between banks and firms. This system enable the banks to supervise

30、the debts and operations of the firms. As for the firms, they may obtain the essential financial supports and advanced management.In sum, the situation of Japan post-war economy growth was owing to the network structural protection and development. These Keiretsus made efforts in equipment investmen

31、t, intending to get practically all new industries into their hands on the basis of funds collected from the pipelines of the powerful financial Keiretsus, so that they might strengthen their control of the industries.The changing global contextThe bursting of Japans bubble economy led to an economi

32、c downturn in the 1990s. Because of deflation, decreasing consumer demand, stagnation of real GDP, a fall in property and land prices by 80% between 1991 and 1998 as well as a rapid growth of unemployment. Widespread changes in capital markets and inter-firm networks in Japan were accompanied by mor

33、e fundamental restructurings of corporate performance systems, labour relations and employment practices. Competition from cheaper imports increased at the same time as domestic demand fell overall. As a result there were unprecedented declines in Japans overall industrial production rate in 1997 and 1998. The keiretsu system