My friend is reluctant to believe anything about Japan written by a non-Japanese.
he also adds: Why are Cannon and Toyota traditional???? They are very independent from "traditional" Japanese corporate norm: Keiretsu. I don't understand this "categoraization of convenience". Traditionals are: broadcasting, electricitiy (both are effective monopolies), steel, construction, of those in Keiretsu. Japanese corporate governance could accomodate the American one 60 years ago: as Japan was forced to reform its civil and corporate laws. However, they were not just settled. The system reversed back and that produced "keiretsu" as a new form of conglomerate (which was banned after 1945 though anti-monopoly law). Thus I don't buy this "sudden catch-up" theory in notion. I just don't buy it. You may want to call it "diffusion" but corporate norm would not be changed in the space of few years. The author definitely should know
the past and what is under the surface. Unknown small Japanese firms are more lively, violent, adventurous and savage...to know then you really have to read small specialized newspapers only offered in Japanese.
And I have to emphasieze this again again and again. For the Japanese economy, not the whole of the 1990s are lost. Japan recorded the highest GDP growth rate among OECD countries in 1996. This happened after 5 years since its stock market collapsed. During this 5-year period, only stock brokerage sector suffered. the Production sector was surviving, though they had to cut the cost really as the yen appreciated against the dollar as high as Yen80/$ in 1994. But the efforts was rewarded towards 1996. Since 1997, the banking sector fell down and the state mobilized its resource to rescue them and this affected the production sector as the liquidity dried up effectively. As the banking sector cleared its bad loans from late 90s, and the clearance its
completed in 2006, the last and huge obstacle for the Japanese economy is finally lifted. It's not the loss of "idea" that moves the economy, I belive. I don't just buy the argument.
michael perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Is this a true picture?
http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue38/Jacoby38.htm
Its true that some Japanese companies have sought to emulate American
practices. The bellwether in this group is Sony, whose recent
performance trails that of traditional companies like Canon and Toyota.
This is not good advertising for the shareholder-value model in Japan.
Similarly, the arrest this January of Takefumi Horie for alleged
financial improprieties has hurt those who portrayed Horie as the kind
of brash, aggressive entrepreneur that was needed to restore vitality to
Japan. One of Hories main promoters was Prime Minister Koizumi, whose
reputation has been tarnished along with Hories.
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Chico, CA 95929
530-898-5321
fax 530-898-5901
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