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date: 19 February 2019

Abstract and Keywords

The objective of this article is to examine the evolution and economic function of business groups, often referred to as zaibatsu, in prewar Japan. It should be noted, however, that, in spite of the prominence of the zaibatsu as economic actors, the share of business groups in the prewar economy was not as high as is often assumed. While the share of business groups in an economy varies depending on definitions of business groups and dates of estimation, their prewar share was also modest when compared to the shares of their counterparts in developing economies. In prewar Japan, most large firms operated as stand-alone entities, and most of them were listed on the stock exchange. Focusing on the three established zaibatsu and Nissan, this article examines how business groups evolved in prewar Japan, and what functions they served.

Keywords: business groups, zaibatsu, prewar economy, developing economies, Nissan

Hideaki Miyajima

Hideaki Miyajima is Professor of Japanese Economy in the Graduate School of Commerce, Waseda University, Japan, and Faculty Fellow of RIETI. His primary research interests include corporate governance, corporate finance, institutional change, and their effects on economic growth. He is the co‐author (with Masahiko Aoki, and Gregory Jackson) of Corporate Governance in Japan: Institutional Change and Organizational Diversity (Oxford University Press, 2007), (with Javed Maswood, Geffrey Graham) of Japan Change and Continuity (Routledge Curson, 2002) and (with Takeo Kikkawa and Takashi Hikino) of Policies for Competitiveness: Comparing Business–Government Relationships in the ‘Golden Age of Capitalism’ (Oxford University Press, 1999).

Shinya Kawamoto

Shinya Kawamoto is Assistant Professor of Social Science at the Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Waseda University, Japan. His research interests include corporate governance, Japanese economy and business economics. He is the co-author (with Takashi Saito) of “Divestment Management Buy-Outs in Japan: Performance, Governance, and Business Strategies of Seller Firms”, Corporate Ownership and Control, 7(2), 2009, and (with Hideaki Miyajima, Yusuke Omi, and Nao Saito) of “Corporate Ownership and Performance in Twentieth Century Japan” in Youssef Cassis and Andrea Colli (eds.), Corporate Performance in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).

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