GOVERNMENT AND BUSINESS
Sakae Tsunoyama
The Sixth Annual Conference of the
was held on
Wakayamaken. It was organized successfully by Prof. S. Tsunoyama as
the first boarding conference of our society.
In openning the conference, Prof. Tsunoyama emphasized that the
close relationship between government and business in every country,
particularly notable after the Second World War, has its origin in the
early stage of industrialization and the economic functions of modern
government should be considered historically according to the following
four categories: government as (1) regulator, (2) promoter, (3) entrepreneur,
and (4) planner.
The first speaker. Prof. Tatsuo Takenaka (
emphasized the difference of meaning between "government and business"
and "business and government", reviewed from the latter point of view
the studies on the public utilities in
The second speaker. Prof. Sadao
Takadera (
the policies of the early Meiji government to promote business activities
by the introduction of the western system of depreciation into government-
aided enterprises in banking and shipping.
On the second day three papers were read; two in the morning, and
one in the evening.
The first speaker. Prof. Takeshi Fukuo (
pointed out that Prussian Beamtenunternehmer in the first half of the
nineteenth century played a conspicuous role to promote German
industrialization, performing as an entrepreneur of state enterprises and
in the latter half of the nineteenth century the government functioned
rather as a promoter of the private enterprises so that the latter might
be able to compete with those in the advanced countries.
In Japan the government policy in 1880's of selling out govemme
owned enterprises to private entrepreneurs could successfully encoura
the rapid industrialization. Prof. Masaaki Kobayashi (Kanto-gakuin U
versify) elaborated the major objectives of the government leaders
their policy of selling-out.
The evening lecture was delivered by Prof. Keiichiro Nakagawa (
University). He compared and contracted the relationships between
government, parliament and business in
and
on the activities of the government officials in
pre-war period.
At the third day meeting two papers were read on the Japanese
government policies in relation to the transportation. Prof. Tadashi Uda
(
for constructing and administering the national and private railways.
Lastly, Prof. Hiroshi Okaniwa (Osaka College of Trade) criticized the
government shipping policies. He pointed out that the practical measures
taken by the Japanese government were to aid some particular big
shipping companies, not to aid private shipping business in general.
CHANGING THE MANAGEMENT POLICY
BY THE JAPANESE SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY
DURING WORLD WAR I
-The Case of the Yokohama Dock Company
Takeaki Teratani
The activities of the Japanese shipbuilding firms in the formative years
of the industry were much diversified like "general shops" in engineering
just to overcome the difficulties in their main lines. But during world war
I the industry was favoured with a great deal of orders from abroad and
at home, and most of the firms could be specialized into shipbuilding
perse, cutting off the other engineering departments.
This paper investigated the case of Yokohama Dock Company, one of
the oldest dock yards in
adoption of the form of joint stock company, but they quited the form
in spite of its merit, and excluding foreign stockholders, they developed
themselves into an independent, specialized shipbuilder.
DIVERSIFICATION OF COURTAULDS
AND ITS PROBLEM
Kaoru Watanabe
Toyobo Company Limited
After the World War II, especially in 1960's, Courtaulds' first problem
of diversification was to shake itself from rayon fibre maker and to become
non-cellulosic fibre producer. Thus Courtaulds began to produce acrylic
fibre and thereafter nylon, polyester etc.
Before the first half of 1960's, ICI had occupied monopolistic position in
producing nylon and polyester, and Courtaulds in acrylic. But in response
to the intrusion into domestic market byDu Font, Monsanto, Hoechst,
AKZO as non-cellulosic fibre producers, Courtaulds had to choose either to
become the producer of raw material of fibre by backward integration, or
to become textile manufacturer by forward integration. Courtaulds chose
the latter alternative, and has come to share large in textile manufacturing
field.
As a fibre producer, such diversification of Courtaulds was questionable,
because of low efficiency ofinvestiment But the fact that ICI also was
afterward compelled to go into the textile manufacturing, the writer
concludes that the behavour of Courtaulds toward diversification was not
a mistake.
METAMORPHOSIS OF MODERN ENTREPRENEUR
IN
Jiichi Kitamura
The main purpose of the article is to analize the last stage of develop-
ments in the modern entrepreneurship in
of the Reich, crisis in 1873 marked the gradual transformation of the
lasses-faire economy of free competition into the monopolistic capitalism.
Concentration movement was the main feature of the age. The writer
describes the two instances. The one is Vereinigte Maschinenfabrik
Augsburg
und Maschinenbaugesellschaft Nurnberg
A.G., a case of a <offene
Fusion> of two mashine
companies in
of merger between Hegenscheidt and Caro was more complicated. The
two groups which had been highly competitive, were, through a trasitional
form agreed in 1887, finally fused into Oberschlesische Eisenindustrie
A.G.
fur Bergbau und Huttenbetrieb in 1889. A typical metamorphosing entre-
preneur was Einil Kirdorf, who was at the same time general manager of
Gelsenkirchener Bergwerk'A.G., succeeded in joing the greatest coal cartel,
Rheinisch-westfalisches Kohlensyndikat in 1893 and took up his post as
chairman.
The writer concludes that in the eighteen-nineties, with the advance
of concentration into large scale enterprise (cartelisation, trustification), a
new type of entrepreneurs began to be originated. A leading personalily,
seating on the Pupervisory Board (Aufsichtsrat) or becoming a top (or a
member) of Managing Board ( Vorstand), fulfiled his entrepreneural tasks
through cartel, trust or "Konzern"
FORMATIVE PROCESS OF THE NISSAN ZAIBATSU
Masaru Udagawa
Hosei University
The formative process of the Nissan Zaibatsu must be examined from
two historical points; first, the business activities of Kuhara Kogyo
(Kuhara Mining Co., established in December, 1905, and later reorganized
into Nissan), second, the entrepreneurial performance of Yoshisuke
Ayukawa, the founder of the Nissan Zaibatsu, before he overtook the
management of Kuhara Kogyo.
The formation of Nissan may be considered as a product of both
activities stated above, that is, as a result of Kuhare Kogyo's business
combined with the entrepreneurial farsightedness of Ayukawa. Author
investigated the process of the development of Kuhara Kogyo before it
was reorganized into Nippon Sangyo Co., as a koshu mochikabu kaisha
(Holding company with a number of mass shareholders) in December 1928
and tried to make clear the meaning of its reform and the resulting
characteristics of the Nissan Zaibatsu.
Author described only the historical facts in the development of Kuhara
Kogyo and presented rather detailed analysis of Ayukawa's performance.
ANALYSIS OF NATIONALISM AS SEEN IN
THE STEEL INDUSTRY IN PREWAR JAPAN
Yoshihisa Ohashi
University of Tokyo
Although a number of propositions have been made concerning the
relationship between "ideas' and "interests", the concept of "polar coordi-
nation" advanced by Max Weber is most persuasive. Otto Hintze
summarized this concept as follows: "Wherever interests are vigorously
pursued, an ideology tends to be developed also to give meaning, re-
enforcement and justification to these interests......And conversely: wherever
ideas are to conquer the world, they require the leverage of real interests
•••••h
In industrially advanced countries, the demand for a certain commodity
will result in higher price for that commodity. This will lead to the
growth in the number of firms supplying the said commodity. This
pattern will repeat itself in a number of different products. In this
manner, enterprises will emerge to meet the rising demand for a variety
of goods and services, and a greater degree of self-sufficiency will be
achieved in the nation's economy. Thus there exists a "polar coordination"
between such a pattern of economic development and "the economic
individualising, an ideology which postulates that the search for private
profit will ultimately lead to the benefit of the society.
In underdeveloped countries, when the demand for a certain commodity
arises, it is imported from advanced countries. Under these circumstances,
typically, indigeneous firms will emerge to manufacture these products,
for which the market has been initially developed by the imports. This will
lead to the replacement of imports by locally produced goods. This is an
economic development by means of "import substitution", and is precisely
the process whereby a grater degree of self-sufficiency in the national
economy was achieved in prewar Japan. On the other hand, entrepreneurs
in prewar Japan were highly nationalistic, and this nationalism manifested
itself in the form of "developing home industries and in so doing suppre-
ssing imports" ("yunyu boatsu"). For thesereasons, there existed a "polar
coordination" between the nationalism and the economic development
through import substitution in prewar Japan. In this context, the prewar
nationalism played the same role in the Japan's economic development
as the economic individualism has in the West.
The author sought to examine the foregoing in the context of the
steel industry in prewar Japan.