Japan’s Multinational Enterprises

In a business history of unusual insight and extensive research, M. Y. Yoshino charts the recent great burst of economic activity that has brought Japan into the modern world. Not since the Meiji restoration in the East and the great period of Western industrialization has there been so significant a phenomenon as Japan’s emergence as a global economic power. How was this accomplished? What kinds of institutions supported the industrial thrust beyond the shores of Japan? What were the business strategies of the managers? What was the impact of cultural and societal patterns?Yoshino finds that Japanese businesses, until now dominated by the great trading companies of Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Yasuda, have turned to multinationalization out of necessity. The strategy of industrial investment abroad is a calculated one. Oil, manufacturing, and major consumer industries have been consolidated and vertically integrated. Plants are not only being built outside of Japan but are being financed with new money raised outside the normal channels of the trading companies.To accommodate these vast changes, internal managerial practices have been transformed, and the salient cultural factors within the business community—homogeneity, family centeredness, hierarchy, and lifetime job tenure—are being challenged. These shifting managerial views pose the greatest dilemma to Japanese business abroad, Yoshino believes, because they sacrifice the very elements within Japanese society that have given stability and strength to business.Yoshino’s study is not only one of the most important recent books on modern Japan; it is also a significant contribution to the broader fields of business and economic history. Introduction / Raymond Vernon -- The Setting: Strategy And Structure, 1868-1945 -- The Setting: Strategy And Structure, 1945-1970 -- The Setting: Erosion Of The Traditional Strategy -- Ventures In Raw Materials: Evolution Of The Japanese Oil Industry -- Ventures In Raw Materials: Japanese Oil Ventures Abroad -- Ventures In Raw Materials: The Role Of Government -- The Spread Of Manufacturing: Investment In Developing Countries -- The Spread Of Manufacturing: The Japanese Advantages -- The Spread Of Manufacturing: The Search For Stability -- The Spread Of Manufacturing: Defense Of The Market Position In Advanced Countries -- The Spread Of Manufacturing: Investment In The United States -- The Spread Of Manufacturing: Emergence Of Large-scale Investment -- The Spread Of Manufacturing: Prospects For The Future -- The Trading Company: Strategy Toward Foreign Direct Investment -- The Trading Company: Growing Threats -- The Trading Company: Emergence Of New Strategies And Structures -- The Trading Company: Prospects For The Future -- The Manufacturing Firm: Organizational Evolution -- The Manufacturing Firm: Creating An International Division -- The Manufacturing Firm: Strengthening The International Division -- The Manufacturing Firm: Strategy And Ownership Policy -- The Manufacturing Firm: Import Substitution Strategy -- The Manufacturing Firm: Assuring Raw Materials -- The Manufacturing Firm: Rationalization Of Production -- The Manufacturing Firm: Changing Strategies And Ownership Policies -- The Managerial System -- Index M. Y. Yoshino. Includes Index. Bibliographical Notes: P.179-182. Monograph on post-war industrialization policy and trade policy of Japan, with particular reference to the emergence of multinational enterprise ventures in raw materials and manufacturing - examines business organization, management systems, industrial structure, foreign investments, modernization and cultural change, etc. References and statistical tables Acknowledgments Contents Tables Introduction 1. The Setting 2. Ventures in Raw Materials 3. The Spread of Manufacturing 4. The Trading Company 5. The Manufacturing Firm 6. The Managerial System Index