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- Convenor:
-
Janet Hunter
(LSE)
Send message to Convenor
- Chair:
-
Julia Yongue
(Hosei University)
- Discussant:
-
Janet Hunter
(LSE)
- Format:
- Panel
- Section:
- Economics, Business and Political Economy
- Location:
- Lokaal 2.23
- Sessions:
- Friday 18 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
This panel brings together papers on the modern history of Japanese business and entrepreneurship, paying particular attention to the interaction between values and institutions, globalisation and competitiveness.
Long Abstract:
This panel brings together papers on the modern history of Japanese business and entrepreneurship, paying particular attention to the interaction between values and institution, globalisation and competitiveness. While this history is of course worthy of study in itself, we would also argue that it can offer wider insights. It also matters when it comes to understanding the current challenges faced by Japanese business, and its responses to those challenges. The panel consists of six papers covering the period from the late 19th century through to the early 21st century. Through analysing some of the structures and ideas within the Japanese business sector as well as international dimensions of Japanese business development the papers collectively seek to shed light on some of the factors behind Japan's rise to international competitiveness from the Meiji period and the impact of this trajectory on life within Japan itself. All the papers seek to incorporate a comparative perspective, relating the development of Japan's business organisation and ideas to the experience of other economies (particularly later developing economies). They also address a number of broader issues relating to business and economic development, including the relative importance of ethics, stakeholder relationships and structural imperatives as drivers of business operation, as well as the nature of entrepreneurship in advanced science-related areas of production.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 18 August, 2023, -Paper short abstract:
Shoe exports had wide-ranging impacts that connected directly to industrialization, modernization and lifestyle. Thi paper will explore how developing shoes for export affected life in Japan using trade and general newspapers, company histories and government statistics.
Paper long abstract:
It is unlikely that any Japanese person made Western shoes before 1870. Yet, as early as 1879, Americans were worried that the low labor costs in Japan would allow them to export shoes at prices that would undercut American workmen. Although this fear was premature, within two decades, Japanese shoe production had developed to the extent that Australia refused to enter the revision of the 1859 commercial treaties negotiated between Great Britain and Japan in 1896 out of fear that, “the rapid progress made in the industrial arts” would result in a flood of boots and shoes from Japanese factories pouring into Australia.
That modernizing Japan funded much of its development through exports is not a new revelation, but the role of secondary yet still significant industries has been little explored. The support of the shoe industry by exports had wide-ranging impacts that connected directly to industrialization, modernization and lifestyle. The paper will explore the process of developing shoes for export, and how this process affected life in Japan using trade and general newspapers, company histories and government statistics.
Paper short abstract:
How were Japanese automobile manufacturers able to enter key overseas markets dominated by established and technologically advanced American, British, and European makers? How do pioneering interwar efforts ultimately relate to Japan becoming a major automobile exporter in the mid-late 20th century.
Paper long abstract:
Mitsubishi, Nissan, and Early Japanese Automobile Exports to Australia, 1930-1937
Simon James Bytheway (Nihon University)
How were Japanese automobile manufacturers able to enter key overseas markets dominated by established and technologically advanced American, British, and European marques and makers? In order to answer the question, my presentation will examine the role played by the Mitsubishi Trading Company in facilitating the Nissan Motor Company’s initial export of passenger cars to Australia during the 1930s. A history of international enterprise, promotion, joint-venture, and cooperation will be revealed, albeit one that ended in setbacks, oversights, litigation, and commercial failure. Nevertheless, we need to consider how these pioneering interwar experiences ultimately relate to Japan becoming a major source of automobile and machinery exports – a key manufacturing nation of light-and heavy-industrial products – to the Americas, Western Europe, and eventually the emerging markets of the Asia-Pacific region in the latter half of the 20th century.
Paper short abstract:
This papers illustrate how Lever Brother, via the competition with other MNEs from Japan and the U.S. as well as the local enterpreneur, have created a developed marketing infrastructure for Thai market during the economic taking-off period.
Paper long abstract:
As an attempt to contribute to discussions on alternative business histories, especially in emerging markets, this study illustrates how modern marketing was introduced and practiced in Thailand, by focusing on the development of the detergent market from the 1950s to the 1990s. The key players are multinational companies from the U.S., Europe, and Japan, and their Thai partners/local personnel. Through the implementation of MNEs’ strategies and considering the response to their rivals, this study depicts how local entrepreneurs, as well as salaried managers, played a key role in contextualization, a concept related to which extant research only focuses on the MNEs’ role.
Keywords: detergent industry; marketing history; emerging markets; business contextualization; Thailand