IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/uwarer/269398.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Re-visiting the Roots of Japan's Structural Decline: The Role of the Japanese Corporation

Author

Listed:
  • Cowling, Keith
  • Tomlinson, Philip R.

Abstract

For a long period in the twentieth century, the development of the Japanese corporation appeared congruent with the development of the Japanese economy. The growth maximising behaviour of the Japanese corporation and the preference for internal growth over acquisitions (see Odagiri, 1992) appeared to suit the long-term ambitions of Japan. Now, that formerly clear connexion between the ambitions of corporate Japan and the Japanese public interest is no longer so clear. Increasingly, the global ambitions of the corporation appear as an impediment to Japan's development. By favouring the development of large-scale transnational corporations, Japanese industrial policy-making appears to have contained a fundamental flaw. Japan is now dominated by large-scale organisations that are controlled by a corporate elite. It is unlikely that their strategic decisions will correspond with the wider public interest, which raises the possibility that Japan is now afflicted with "strategic failure". Other examples from around the world suggest that Japan is not unique in this respect. Alternative ways forward are suggested.

Suggested Citation

  • Cowling, Keith & Tomlinson, Philip R., 2001. "Re-visiting the Roots of Japan's Structural Decline: The Role of the Japanese Corporation," Economic Research Papers 269398, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uwarer:269398
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.269398
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/269398/files/twerp624.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/269398/files/twerp624.pdf?subformat=pdfa
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.269398?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Teece, David J, 1993. "The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism: Perspectives on Alfred Chandler's Scale and Scope," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 199-225, March.
    2. Masahiko Aoki, 2013. "Toward an Economic Model of the Japanese Firm," Chapters, in: Comparative Institutional Analysis, chapter 18, pages 315-341, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Asanuma, Banri, 1989. "Manufacturer-supplier relationships in Japan and the concept of relation-specific skill," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 1-30, March.
    4. Glyn, Andrew & Rowthorn, Bob, 1988. "West European Unemployment: Corporatism and Structural Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(2), pages 194-199, May.
    5. Ellman,Michael, 2014. "Socialist Planning," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107074736, October.
    6. Cowling, Keith & Sugden, Roger, 1998. "The Essence of the Modern Corporation: Markets, Strategic Decision-Making and the Theory of the Firm," The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies, University of Manchester, vol. 66(1), pages 59-86, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cowling, Keith & Tomlinson, Philip R., 2002. "Re-Visiting The Roots Of Japan'S Structural Decline:The Role Of The Japanese Corporation," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 624, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    2. Keith Cowling & Philip Tomlinson, 2002. "Revisiting the Roots of Japan's Economic Stagnation: The role of the Japanese corporation," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 373-390.
    3. Takeishi, Akira, 1958- & Cusumano, Michael A., 1954-, 1995. "What we have learned and have yet to learn from manufacturer-supplier relations in the auto industry," Working papers #126-95. Working paper (S, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    4. Cowling, Keith & Tomlinson, Philip r., 2001. "The Problem of Regional "Hollowing Out" in Japan: Lessons for Regional Industrial Policy," Economic Research Papers 269399, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    5. Kandel, Eugene & Pearson, Neil D., 2001. "Flexibility versus Commitment in Personnel Management," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 515-556, December.
    6. Klein, Benjamin, 2000. "Fisher-General Motors and the Nature of the Firm," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 43(1), pages 105-141, April.
    7. Dic Lo, 2003. "China, the ‘East Asian Model’ and Late Development," Working Papers 131, Department of Economics, SOAS University of London, UK.
    8. Bahaudin G Mujtaba, 2019. "Leadership Orientation of Afghan and Japanese Respondents: A Study of “Guzaara†or Getting Along in Asia," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 11(1), pages 24-39.
    9. Boyer, Robert & Yamada, Toshio, 2000. "An epochal change... but uncertain futures: The Japanese capitalism in crisis. A "regulationist" interpretation," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Couverture Orange) 0005, CEPREMAP.
    10. Yannick LUNG (E3i, IFReDE-GRES & GERPISA), 2005. "The link between the diversity of productive models and the variety of capitalisms," Cahiers du GRES (2002-2009) 2005-17, Groupement de Recherches Economiques et Sociales.
    11. Cowling, Keith & Tomlinson, Philip R., 2002. "The Problem Of Regional "Hollowing Out" In Japan : Lessons For Regional Industrial Policy," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 625, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    12. Numagami, Tsuyoshi, 1996. "Flexibility trap: a case analysis of U.S. and Japanese technological choice in the digital watch industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 133-162, January.
    13. Cusumano, Michael A., 1954- & Takeishi, Akira, 1958-, 1995. "What we have learned and have yet to learn from manufacturer-supplier relations in the auto industry," Working papers 3840-95., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    14. Isabel Grilo & Roy Thurik, 2008. "Determinants of entrepreneurial engagement levels in Europe and the US," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 17(6), pages 1113-1145, December.
    15. Johan Willner, 2003. "Privatisation and Public Ownership in Finland," CESifo Working Paper Series 1012, CESifo.
    16. Baarda, James R., 2003. "Current Law & Economics Debates: Tools for Assessing Fundamental Cooperative Changes?," 2003 Annual Meeting, October 29 31802, NCERA-194 Research on Cooperatives.
    17. Ballot, Gerard, 2002. "Modeling the labor market as an evolving institution: model ARTEMIS," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 51-77, September.
    18. Heinrich, Ralph P., 1999. "Complementarities in Corporate Governance - A Survey of the Literature with Special Emphasis on Japan," Kiel Working Papers 947, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    19. Rowthorn, Bob & Glyn, Andrew, 1990. "The diversity of unemployment experience since 1973," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 57-89, June.
    20. Andersson, Thomas, 1991. "Approaches to Partnerships Causing Asymmetries Between Japan and the West," Working Paper Series 320, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised Feb 1992.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:uwarer:269398. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/workingpapers/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.