Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T16:04:49.233Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Analysis of Japanese Corporate Structure, 1915–1937

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Jennifer L. Frankl
Jennifer L. Frankl
Affiliation:
Jennifer L. Frankl is Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, WilliamsCollege, Williamstown, MA 01267. E-mail: jfrankl@;williams.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Corporate groups have been very important in the economies of many developing countries, including prewar Japan, where zaibatsu controlled approximately one-third of the capital stock. Regression analysis of a new firm-level financial data set distinguishes the economic behavior of zaibatsu member firms from independent firms. The only significant difference between old-zaibatsu member firms and independent firms is that some measures of earnings of old zaibatsu were less stable. The earnings of new-zaibatsu firms were higher, faster-growing and less variable than those of independent firms. These results cast doubt on the anecdotal literature about old zaibatsu.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 59 , Issue 4 , December 1999 , pp. 997 - 1015
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Asajima, Shoichi. Senkanki Sumitomo Zaibatsu Kyoshi (History of Sumitomo Zaibatsu in the Interwar Period). Tokyo: Tokyo University Press, 1983.Google Scholar
Asjima, Shoichi “Flow-of-Funds Analysis of Sumitomo Zaibatsu.” Japanese Yearbook on Business History 1 (1984): 73–103.Google Scholar
Aoki, , Masahiko, . “Aspects of the Japanese Firm.” In The Economic Analysis of the Japanese Firm, edited by Masahiko, Aoki, 3–43. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1984.Google Scholar
Caves, Richard E., and Uekasa, Masu. Industrial Organization in Japan. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1976.Google Scholar
Chang, Sea Jin, and Choi, Unghwan. “Strategy, Structure and Performance of Korean Business Groups: A Transactions Cost Approach.” Journal of Industrial Economics 37, no. 2. (1988): 141–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fruin, W. Mark.. The Japanese Enterprise System. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Gerlach, Michael L.Alliance Capitalism: The Social Organization of Japanese Business. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hadley, Eleanor. Antitrust in Japan. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970.Google Scholar
Hirschmeier, Johannes, and Yui, Tsunehiko. The Development of Japanese Business, 1600–1973. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1975.Google Scholar
Hoshi, Takeo Anil Kashyap, and Scharfstein, David. “Corporate Structure, Liquidity, and Investment.” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 106, no. 1 (1991): 33–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Japan Statistical Association. Historical Statistics of Japan. Vol. 4. Tokyo: Nihon Tokei Kyokai, 1988.Google Scholar
Kabushiki Kaisha Nenkan. Tokyo: Toyo Keizai Shinposha, various dates.Google Scholar
Kaisha Nenkan. Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha, various dates.Google Scholar
Leff, Nathaniel H. “Industrial Organization and Entrepreneurship in the Developing Countries: The Economic Groups.” Economic Development and Cultural Change 26, no.4 (1978): 661–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mishima, Yasuo. The Mitsubishi: Its Challenge and Strategy. London: JAI Press, 1989.Google Scholar
Miyajima, Hideaki. “Privatization of Ex-Zaibatsu Holding Stocks and Emergence of Bank Centered Corporate Groups in Japan.” Unpublished manuscript, 1994.Google Scholar
Molony, Barbara. Technology and Investment: The Prewar Japanese Chemical Industry. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morikawa, Hidemasu. Zaibatsu: The Rise and Fall of Family Enterprise Groups in Japan. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Morikawa, Hidemasu “Management Structure and Control Devices for Diversified Zaibatsu Business.” In Strategy and Structure of Big Business, edited by Nakagawa, K., 45–60. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1974.Google Scholar
Morton, Walter A. “Risk and Return: Instability of Earnings as a Measure of Risk.” Land Economics 45, no. 2 (1969): 229–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakagawa, Keiichiro. “Business Strategy and Industrial Structure in Pre World War II Japan.” In Strategy and Structure of Big Business, edited by Nakagawa, K., 3–38. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1974.Google Scholar
Nakatani, Iwao. “The Economic Role of Financial Corporate Grouping.” In The Economic Analysis of the Japanese Firm, edited by Masahiko, Aoki, 227–58. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1984.Google Scholar
Roberts, John G.Mitsui: Three Centuries of Japanese Business. New York: Weatherhill, 1973.Google Scholar
Suzuki, Yoshitaka. Japanese Management Structures, 1920–80. London: Macmillan, 1991.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weinstein, David E., and Yafeh, Yishay. “Japan's Corporate Groups: Collusive or Competitive?” Journal of Industrial Economics, 43, no. 4 (1995): 359–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yafeh, Yishay. “Corporate Ownership, Profitability and Bank-Firm Ties.” Journal of Japanese and International Economics 9 (03 1995): 154–73.Google Scholar
Yakura, , Shintaro, , and Yoshiro, Ikushima, eds. Shuyo Kigyo no Keifuzu (Genealogical Chart of Major Japanese Corporations). Tokyo: Yushodo Press, 1986.Google Scholar
Yasuoka, Shigeaki. “Tradition of Family Business in the Strategic Decision Process and Management Structure of Zaibatsu.” In Strategy and Structure of Big Business, edited by Nakagawa, K., 81–101. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1974.Google Scholar