1001-1/1

CULTURAL STRUCTURE AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Hiroshi Hazama

Tokyo Kyoiku University

The tenth annual meeting of the Business History Society of Japan was held at the University of Tokyo on the 5th and 6th of October 1974. On the first day we had a free-topic session as usual and twelve papers were reported. All of the five papers in this special issue were read at the common-topic session on the second day of the meeting.

In the opening address, professor Keiichiro Nakagawa of the University of Tokyo, who was one of the organizers of the latter session, emphasized the significance of the study on “Cultural Structure and Entrepreneurship” for us, Japanese business historians. Professor Nakagawa stated that after the Vietnam War American business historians have lost interest in this kind of study, but, he continued, we should actively continue to pursue it.

Professor Hiroshi Hazama of Tokyo Kyoiku University explained some sociological and psychological approaches to the relationship between entrepreneurship and cultural factors, specifically entrepreneurial or managerial ideologies and cultural values, following Max Weber’s thesis. He also examined the applicability of these approaches, which were arguments founded on facts of Western societies, to the Japanese society.

Professor Johannes Hirschmeier of Nanzan University and professor Tsunehiko Yui of Meiji University clarified the relationship between the traditional value system and businesses in the process of industrialization in Japan. Professor Yui expressed a noteworthy hypothesis on the traditional value system in the Tokugawa era and referred to impacts of the system on business activities after the Meiji era. Professor Hirschmeier explained the characteristics of the “spirit of capitalism” in Japan compared with that in Western countries.

Professor Kazuo Sugiyama of Seikei University presented the result of his close investigation concerning financial and investment behaviors of cotton-spinning and railway companies in the Meiji era. These behaviors were considered not separately but as a complete process from the decision-making on investment by top management to the setting of equipments; they are related to different stages of development of companies and to their cultural background.

The final speaker, professor Shigeaki Yasuoka of Doshisha University, pointed out the conditions of business control of the Zaibatu by monopolistic ownership before World War II in Japan with historical and cultural views. He especially made clear the reason why the Zaibatu, which had grown up in the Tokugawa era or in early Meiji, limited the investors of their head companies to their families and why they could control many modern companies though they had kept premodern traits.

The panel discussion on the common topic was presided by professor Kinichiro Toba of Waseda University and professor Hidemasa Morikawa of Hosei University.

1002-1/3

A STUDY OF THE COMMERCIAL BUSINESS HISTORY OF BALTIMORE, 1780-1787

Jiro Toyohara

Kobe University of Commerce

This article is in a series of my projected researches regarding the American-Canadian commercial-business history from the latter half of the 18th century to the first half of the 19th century.

This paper consists of three facets: a general description of the socio-economic development of Baltimore during the latter half of the 18th century; a brief analysis of some commercial-business-historical characteristics of Baltimore’s maritime industry and her foreign-coastwise trades; and lastly some considerations of the entrepreneurial activities of Robert Oliver, “the commission merchant-importer-exporter, typically a stay-at-home-merchant” in Baltimore during the eighties. In another words, this article becomes one of my works based upon economic-business-historical approaches.

In making this paper, I had a lot of valuable opportunities to read through some original data in Washington National Archives.

1002-2/3

AMERICAN FIRE-ARMS INDUSTRY IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY

Haruhito Shiomi

Nagoya Municipal University

The aim of this paper is to investigate the historical function of the Taylor system in the American arms industry. For this purpose, I treat firstly, what was the main problem of management in the arms industry in the late 19th century, and secondly, what role did the Taylor system have in this sector.

The Taylor system of management was first brought into the arms industry at the Watertown Arsenal in 1909, followed by the New Heaven Plant of the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. in 1915. Till the introduction of the Taylor system, the New Heaven Plant adopted the line production method, while at the Watertown Arsenal, layout of the production line was so confused that they did not even bring machinery of the same type into the same section of the shop. Both of these plants, however, were managed by the similar traditional simple line organization. In both cases, such a management organization resulted in the functional disorder of management before the end of the 19th century.

The Taylor system, being introduced into the two plants for the purpose of reform, by separating the management function from operation and subdividing it into specialized functions, created the base of the modern line and staff organization in the arms industry.

1002-3/3

MANAGEMENT IN THE COLLEGIATE BUSINESS EDUCATION IN THE FORMATIVE ERA

Takenori Saito

University of Hirosaki

In this paper I tried to investigate into an aspect of the American management movement up to the 1920s, from a viewpoint of the development of collegiate business education. Accordingly, the rise of business management could be treated so far as it became to be a subject of business education.

A concrete study I make first is how management was introduced into the curriculum in the first half of the 1910s. The second point is the fact that the management was not regarded to be the most important subject in business school in the 1920s, in spite of its increasing and diverse advancement in the business world.

1003-1/2

Industrial Relations in British Shipbuilding Industry, 1850-1914

Masaji Arai

Kansai University

Before the First World War, the twin industries of shipbuilding and marine engineering were among the largest of British manufacturing industries, and shipbuilding industry was believed to have employed in 1914 over 200,000 workpeople. In 1892-4, British yards built over 80 per cent of the world merchant vessels. The triumph of the industry was short-lived, and after the Second World War British shipbuilding has passed under the cloud of intense foreign competition. Today, its share declined to 3.6 per cent. The decline of the industry’s international competitive power was partly due to the poor industrial relations. There were many conflicts in shipbuilding industry, and many of the disputes were between the unions themselves rather than between the unions and management. In this paper, the author traces the historical origins of the demarcation problem and the process led to the establishment of a national board for the adjustment of demarcation disputes.

1003-2/2

On Construction of the Port of Yokohama in Modern Japan

Takeaki Teratani

Yokohama Municipal University

This paper investigated the case of construction of the port of Yokohama, one of the oldest port in Japan. Japanese government decided to open a port for foreign trade in the late Edo era. She could not, however, construct the port at the moment for want of funds. In 1883, United States payed back the Japanese reparation for the Shimonoseki-war. With this funds, constructing the port of Yokohama started in 1889. In reference with the port plan, Dutch civil engineers were opposed to British engineer, H. S. Painher. While the Home Office supported the former, the Foreign Office supported the latter. Owing to the tactics and prompt decision of the Foreign Minister S. Okuma, the British engineer gained victory over the Dutch, resulting the construction of the port of Yokohama according to the Palmer’s plan.