An Introduction to Japanese Company History: Stability and Change in the Ranking of Large Manufacturing Enterprises*

Abstract

Abstract One of the key terms in this series and in the analysis of modern Japanese society is kaishashugi or ‘companyism’. While we can say that Japanese companies used their strength to unify employees, was this strength the premiss for success or rather the combination of their mutually stipulated relations? To unveil the secret of ‘companyism’, it is essential to clarify the mechanisms behind companies’ economic growth. This exercise will deal on the one hand with the compilation of case studies concerning the growth of representative companies and on the other with the companies’ necessity to generalize. One endeavour in this analysis of modern Japanese firms will be to understand and to characterize the miraculous growth of all Japanese companies. Delving further into these related themes, we will not simply provide a case study of the most representative enterprises, but will instead clarify all the main points of these cases in an attempt to create a framework.