Global Strategy of Japanese Corporations

Abstract

I. Objective and outline of the survey: In carrying out its global development, if the Japanese firm continues its existing organizational structure of heavy dependence on home headquarters in Japan and a limited role of the overseas corporate subsidiaries its adaptive ability to local conditions would become weak even though it could pursue efficiency. When the adaptive ability to the local condition is lacking, the competitiveness as indicated by the share in the local market or the growth of earnings such as the rate of return can only not be expected but could even worsen. Starting with this premise, we conducted a questionnaire survey to assess the real state of the global strategy of Japanese firms to analyze the direction of the globalizing Japanese firms. Our two basic viewpoints are: 1. The necessity of the concentration (centralization) of the operation and localization (decentralization) of the global business operations of Japanese firms.