INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS
ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Sinzo Kurita
On November 9th and
10th, 1968, the Business History Society of Japan had her fourth
annual meeting at the
In the opening address, Kurita explained that all the speakers had common understanding that the international difference of entrepreneurship could be perceived in its relations with social and cultural factors as well as economic conditions.
The first speaker, Professor Masaji Arai of
the stagnation of the English economy during the Great Deppression and
explained it by the conservatism of the English businessmen. After pointing
out some of the handicaps of the leader country, he also emphasized the
adverse effect of the imperial market which allowed English entrepreneurs
to enjoy high rates of profit without drastic rationalisation of their business.
Professor Tadakatsu
Inoue of the
cultural, social, and economic conditions of the
Professor Keiichiro Nakagawa of the
that the lack of “acquisitive attitudes” and “functionalism” in the Indian
society, which he considered to be the outcome from both the Hinduism
and the “joint-family” system, had been the major abstacles against the
emergence of aggressive entrepreneurship. He also emphasized that the
political unstability, originated from the
racial, linquistic
and religions diversities, had greatly hindered in
Professor Tien-yi Yang of the
that the traditional Chinese society was structured primarily on the basis
of kinship, local community, ancestor worship, hierarchical and particularistic pattern of conduct. This whole structure fitted completely with the
well-known “familism” of Chinese society. Kinship and territorial community played the pivotal parts in the whole network of social solidarity there characterizing the entrepreneurship in Modern China by the supreme collective interests and business organization exclusively by such personal relations.
Professor Kisou
Tasugi of the
After these six reports a
panel discussion on this common topic was presided by
Professor Mataji Miyamoto of the
I COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE HISTORICAL
MOVEMENTS OF THE INDUSTRIAL COMBINATION
IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES
with Reference to the Fundamental Inducements
Underlying these Movements in Heavy Industry
Kenji Mesaki
1, The meanings and characteristics of some terms used in this paper
Konzern is a kind of industrial combination which relates to its
structure, being a weak capital-concentration. We may include vertical,
horizontal and circular combinations as well as conglomerates in the vector
combination, which indicates not only the direction of the combination,
but also the quantity of industrial operations to be combined. The heavy
Industry is an industry or enterprise which produces iron and steel or
manufactures iron-and steel-products.
2. Industrial combination and heavy industry
Industrial combination can accomplish the increase of profits, while
heavy industry plays, as a key industry, an important part in promoting
the prosperity of the community, and may, as well, affect the development
of individual enterprises. Furthermore, industrial combination facilitates
the enlargement and growth of a firm operating iron and steel production.
Thus, industrial combination is deeply connected with the heavy industry.
3. The fundamental inducements underlying the development of the
industrial combination in heavy industry of several countries.
Among many inducements for industrial combination, a few are conceived
as being worthy of mentioning here. Entrepreneurs or managements resort
to industrial combination as a device for achieving the rationalization of
their firms or to realize the monopoly of markets. So far as these activities are concerned, industrial combination brings forth a Gesellschaft described by F. Toennies, as a society formed for the purpose of promoting the interest of its members. German cartels may be regarded belonging to this kind of society. On the other hand, most of its members exhibit comradeship-spirit attitudes, which places emphasis on the entity of the group concerned, sometimes even regardless of individual interest of the member. The latter state of the group, fraternitas, leads to building up a society Gemeinschaft called by Toennies, a society which has no particular or formal purpose, existing, so to speak, as natural process. Thus, the German cartel is likely to have contained a synthesis of two characteristics of the society, and this particular feature might have
intensified the controlling power of the German cartel before World War
HISTORICAL ROLES OF GERMAN COLONIAL
COMPANIES
Jiichi Kitamura
Under German colonialism a series of colonial companies (Kolonialgese-
Ischaft) were organized to obtain basic economic control over German
colonies. The establishments numbered 73 during the comparatively short-
term possession of colonies, from 1884 to 1914, playing an important part
in the activity of German imperialism. [After World War I, notwithstand-
ing the loss of all the colonies, 85 companies were newly organized or
reorganized and shouldered the task of continuing colonialism without
colonies (Kolonialismus ohne Kolonien).) This paper deals with genealogy
and types of prewar colonial companies and aims to appraise their
historical roles and results.
In
companies (Schutzbriefgesellschaft) were formed, by means of Schutzbrief
copied from the English Royal Charter; Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft
(=DOAG, 1884-1890), Neu-Gumea-Kompagnie (1884—1890) and Jaluit-
Gesellsckaft (1888—1906). They were active in the acquisition of colonies
and the assumption of teritorial sovereignty. Realizing
policy, they intended to collect the monopolistic profits. After short lives,
they converted into ordinary companies.
Another type of colonial company is the Konzessionsgesellschaft. In the
sions (land or rights) to certain companies for the special purposes of
constructing railways or issuing bank- notes. Kamerun Eisenbahngesellsckaft
and Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank are examples of these cases; they too
got exclusive profits.
Various private companies in German colonies were grouped into the
third type of colonial companies, participating positively in the accompli-
shment of colonial policy. Plantagengesellsckaft and Handelsgesellschft
are typical of them; the former had its own afunction in the production
process of colonial economy, and the latter in the circulation process.
From the business historical point of view, the writer investigates many-
sided managements of colonial enterprisers and analizes the intensity of
native labour.
GENESIS OF THE
International Entrepreneurial Activities
in Belgian Industrial Revolution
Akio Ishizaka
The huge
In 1817, was in the first half of the 19th century one of the largest heavy
industry establishments on the Continent, and not only a most formidable
rival for the British machine industry, but also something like a model
factory and training center for young engineers and skilled workers in
light on the role which the Cockerills played in the course of the
industrial revolution on the Continent.
The Cockerill family, English mechanics in origin, started their business
in 1799, when William Cockerill with his sons at the request of Simonis,
Biolly & Co., the biggest clothier in the Verviers woollen industry district,
constructed a set of machines for the woollen industry. Afterwards the
Cockerills transferred their workshop to Liege, the iron industry center of
Belgium, to take advantage of the entrepreneurial opportunities for machine-
makers which the prosperous woollen industries, under the Napoleonic
Empire, guarranteed them.
After 1815, when Belgium was cut off from France, the Cockerills were
obliged to contend with the economic crisis caused by the fall of the
Napoleonic system, and tried to seek compensation in German markets.
They founded actually several branch-mills for machine construction and
model woollen spinneries in Berlin and other eastern German towns under
the auspices of the Prussian Government, besides some similiar ones in
Russian Poland.
However, John Cockerill, the successor of this family enterprise, dissatisfied
with this limitation of his business, ventured into the difficult undertaking
of being a steam engine constructor. He converted the Seraing castle,
disposed of by the King William I of the Netherlands at a favourable
price, into a huge machine factory in 1817".
Moreover, to secure materials suitable for machine-building, John
Cockerill was obliged not only to expand his business to iron works and
collieries under the auspice of the Netherlands government, but also to
form a joint enterprise with the State.
Through several years of hardships and experiments, his business was
established in a complete vertical combination, and after 1830, Cockerill
was able to take full advantages of the excellent capacities of his factories
in the face of new railway age.
It was duly these legacies of John Cockerill that allowed made the Sera-
ing factory to survive to become the best in European heavy industries,
after his bankrupcy in 1839 and his death in 1842 followed by a reorga-
nization of the business into a joint stock company.
The Business Philosophy of Ishida Baigan
Yasukazu Takeaka
Kinki University
Ishida Baigan (1685-1744), who sought to develop a set of business ethics
for merchants, asserted "to obtain business profits fairly is the proper
practice of merchant living," and that this was legitimate because "merchants
are vassals (social servants) of the street." Then, he stressed that the
merchants ought to establish their own viewpoint about the social meaning
of commercial transactions. Furthermore, asking what the true meaning
of a transaction should be, he maintained that "true merchants are those
who satisfy their customers as well as themselves,"—in other words, the
transactions had to benefit both parties in buying and selling. Merchants,
therefore, must respect their customers' interest. Thus, Baigan said that
merchants had to cultivate the mind of the people in the realm. On the
other hand, the thought of Baigan is characterized as "a philosophy of
frugality," which he developed from his experience in a merchant house.
This way of living was named "shimatsu" which implied the maintenance
of a ballance between beginning and end. While shimatsu means economic
rationalism in business philosophy, Baigan, having conceived the idea of
frugality in a higher sense, recognized it as the basis of all moral virtues,
and identified it as honesty. He said that one could lead a frugal life
naturally when he was honest, and that he could recover the genuine
honesty which was innated to every one whenever he put frugality into
practice. Behind such a thought was the idea of "mottai-nai " a sort of
national sentiment. This word implies literally the loss of appearance or
manner proper to its nature, that is intolerable because it is contrary to
the blessing offered by an invisible God. Then, Baigan explained, in brief,
that frugality was "to abide by a law of existence." In such a thought,
frugality is nothing but rationalization itself.
Procurement of Iron and Steel by the Japanese Shipbuilding
Industry during World War I
—The Case of the Asano Shipbuilding Yard
Takeaki Teratani
Yokohama Municipal University
The unprecedented boom of the Japanese shipbuilding industry during
World War I was accompanied by a serious difficulty in procuring raw materials. The domestic iron and steel industry had not yet developed
elough to supply the local demand. In addition, England and America put
into effect an embargo on iron and steel in 1916 and 1917 respectively,
The Japanese shipbuilding industry, favored with a great deal of orders
from abroad, tried to overcome the shortage of raw materials, first by
contracting with the U.S. Government for a supply of iron and steel in
return for an equivalent amount of ships, constructed at Japanese ship-
building yards.
But eventually some of the shipbuilding firms, such an Mitsubishi,
Kawasaki and Asano, implemented a more long-ranged project for securing
raw material; that is, ventures into iron and steel production themselves.
In this paper the author has elucidated the procurement policy of Asano
Shipyard, established by Soichiro Asano, president of the Toyo Steam-ship
Navigation Co.
The Coal-Mining of Durham CathedralPrioryfromthelll
14th Century to the Time of its Dissolution
Naomi Morimoto
Nagoya Gakuin University
The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 is the most important document for
analysing the economic conditions of the monasteries in England on the
eve of their dissolution.
The information contained in this material, however, does not tell us
the whole story. Especially, coal-mining, which was an important activity
of the monasteries in northern England during this period, is almost entirely
neglected in this document.
Therefore, the author has investigated the economic conditions of Durban:
Cathedral Priory at the time of its dissolution through its own documents
and has thrown some light on the coal-mining operations in this priory.
The details of its management have been elucidated from the 14th
century through the first half of the 16th century.