1801-1/2

THE EMERGENCE OF LARGE-SCALE COMPOSITE INSURANCE OFFICES IN THE UK, 1875-1914

Takau Yoneyama

Graduate School of Hitotsubashi University

When we study the history of British insurance offices, especially in terms of comparative business history, it is paramount to consider ‘composite’ offices which handle various types of insurance--life, fire, marine and accident. There are no such insurance offices in the US, Germany, Japan and most other countries, but in Britain all major insurance offices, except a few, are large-scale composite offices.

Composite offices, in the strict sense of the word, did not emerge until the turn of the century. During the years of 1904-14, some major insurance offices expanded their business by handling ‘new-type’ of insurances personal accident, employers, liability, and so origin addition to traditional insurance. In other words, it was at this time that the British insurance offices undertook diversification of business.

The purpose of this article is twofold. One is showing the process of the emergence of composite offices, and two, more importantly, presenting a picture of the historical character of British insurance business against the background of the maturity of the British economy. References used were the Board of Trade Returns and some insurance journals and yearbooks.

The following are the conclusions of this article. Firstly, large-scale composite offices did not derive from life offices (e.g. Equitable, Standard Life), but from fire-life offices (e.g. Royal, North British and Mercantile) or fire-life-marine offices (e.g. Royal Exchange, Liverpool and London and Globe). Secondly, diversification, strictly speaking diversification to ‘related business’ according to R. P. Rumelt, was the result of amalgamations rather than internal growth. Furthermore, it was around this time that the post of ‘General Manager’ emerged, bringing an ‘Age of General Managers’ to the British insurance business. Thirdly, traditional London based offices (e.g. London Assurance) and specialist life offices (e.g. Scottish Widows’ Fund) continued to lose their shares in the insurance market. To the contrary, some active non-London insurance offices, which had a comparatively short history, gradually became of increasing importance.

1801-2/2

THE LISTS OF THE 200 LARGEST INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES IN JAPAN

Tsunehiko Yui

Mark Fruin

The lists presented here are the data showing the financial records of the 200 largest enterprises in the development of Japanese business. These lists rank large industrial enterprises in the order of the size of the firm and also provide information on the amount of assets, paid-up capital and revenue of each of the enterprises.

As the main purpose of this survey is a comparative study among industrialized countries, the lists are devised to the extent possible to be adaptable to international standards. (1) The enterprises listed are the 200 largest industrial enterprises, in accordance with the list of the United States and United Kingdom. (2) The authors researched the year 1918, 1930 and 1954. Although the data for the U.S. and the U. K. includes a list for 1949, marking the beginning of the post World War II period, the authors analyzing Japanese enterprises listed the 200 industrial firms of 1954 instead of 1949, because in 1949 Japanese large enterprises had not yet recovered from the war damage. (3) The standard for ranking enterprises in the lists is the sum of assets in real terms, mainly because most of the Japanese companies before World War II had not published their sales figures. (4) The definition and classification of “industry” is based on the SIC (Standard Classification Industry) in the U.S.

1802-1/2

COMPANY AUTONOMY AND N.Y.K.-O.S.K. COOPERATION IN THE INTER-WAR YEARS

William D. Wray

University of British Columbia

This paper deals with the plans for a merger between the N.Y.K. and the O.S.K. and the effects that tile failure of the negotiations had on N.Y.K. management.

Japan’s large shipping companies were relatively independent of the zaibatsu to which they belonged. However, in the late 1920s and early 1930s several forces prompted Mitsubishi to take a more interventionist policy toward the N.Y.K. These forces included N.Y.K. managerial dissension and the financial problems of the depression. In particular Mitsubishi favored N.Y.K.-O.S.K. cooperation because it had developed close financial ties with the O.S.K., which had become a major market for its ships.

Kagami Kenkichi, the leading financial executive within the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, tried to implement cooperation and merger with the O.S.K. during the early years of his tenure as N.Y.K. president. The principal focus of this paper is Kagami’s attempt to negotiate this merger and the opposition that arose against it from “mainstream” N.Y.K. executives, that is, managers who had spent theft whole careers with the company. These managers were more concerned with obtaining government subsidies and preserving the identity of their firm than with negotiations for the merger. Their successful opposition strengthened the forces of company autonomy.

1802-2/2

THE DEVELOPMENT AND THE DISSOLUTION OF YAMAGUCHI ZAIBATSU

Yasuo Mishima

Konan University

The origin of Yamaguchi Zaibatsu was opened by Kichirobei Yamaguchi (first as a draper at Osaka in 1824. Kichirobei (second) changed his business to money-changer in 1863. After the Meiji Restoration, Yamaguchi family established 148th National Bank in 1879, and this bank changed to private Yamaguchi Bank in 1898. Thereafter, Yamaguchi family invested to Nihon Seimei (life insurance), Osaka Chochiku Ginko (savings bank), Kansai Shintaku (trust company), Kyodo Kasai Kaijo (fire and marine insurance) and so on.

Yamaguchi family established Yamaguchi Limited Partnership (\10,000, 000) as holding company in 1920 and formed Yamaguchi Zaibatsu. It had developed as a middle-scale financial Zaibatsu untill the end of Second World War. The reasons of development were:

1. delegations of management power to able managers,

2. good selections of investments to stable financial and insurance companies,

3. effective utilizing of capitals by reducing the percentage of investment to 10-50% in all capitals of these companies.

After the Second World War, Yamaguchi Zaibatsu was not designated to Zaibatsu holding company by the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, but it was going way of dissolution by the huge property tax, and the decreasing of values of holding stocks. Yamaguchi Limited Partnership closed its 30 years history in 1950.

1803-1/1

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TWO BIG FIRMS IN JAPANESE SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY DURING THE DEPRESSION AFTER WORLD WAR I.

--Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Company and Kawasaki Dockyard Co., Ltd. in the Second Half of the Taisho Era

Takao Shiba

Kyoto Sangyo University

After World War I, Japanese shipbuilding industry was visited by severe depression. At that time, most of shipbuilding firms in Japan were hard hit in their management by this depression. Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Company and Kawasaki Dockyard Co., Ltd. were biggest ones in this industry at that time. But managements of these firms changed for the worse with the advance of the depression. Especially the condition of Kawasaki was severe. This company collapsed as early as the middle of this depression, 1927. On the other hand Mitsubishi was not so severe. Because, it was superior to Kawasaki in building of merchant vessels. And it selected moderated policy for the depression. This company cut off unprofitable departments and endeavored to accumulate internal funds. As a result, it could hold huge funds at the end of Taisho era. Policy of Kawasaki was very extreme compared of Mitsubishi’s. This company tried to find a way out by extending to new fields one after another. But such policy imposed a big burden on the finance of this company.

1804-1/3

THE LABOR MANAGEMENT IN O.S.K. AND ITS LEADING EXECUTIVES, 1898-1945

Masaaki Kobayashi

Kanto-Gakuin University

O.S.K. (Osaka Shosen Kaisha), a small shipping company covering only the Inland Sea of Japan, was established in 1884. And it has been one of the two large shipping companies (O.S.K. and N.Y.K.) having the regular ocean routes since 1909. As compared with N.Y.K. (Nihon Yusen Kaisha), O. S. K. has achieved a great expansion under the good labor management and active strategies of leading executives.

This article tries to clarify why O.S.K. could catch up with N.Y.K. From the viewpoint of the labor management, there are four reasons: First, after Tokugoro Nakahashi took office as the fourth president of the company in 1898, he employed many talented college graduates as staff members. Second, the employees were well treated even in extreme depression. Third, this company had a more adequate system of Yobiin (the seamen reserved for sailing the regular ocean routes) than N.Y. K. did. Fourth, since captains and engineers of superior ability were promoted to executives, the labor and the management cooperated well with each other.

This article emphasizes the last two of them: one is Yobiin system, the other is the good labor-management relations in O.S.K.

1804-2/3

A MANAGERIAL CHARACTERISTIC OF TRAMP SHIPPING IN JAPAN DURING THE INTER-WAR PERIOD

--THE CASE OF LINER SERVICES CONDUCTED BY MITSUI TRADING CO’S SHIPPING DIV.—

Shin Goto

Kagawa University

In the Inter-War Period, while “tramp shipping” was declining world-wide, Japanese tramp shipping developed remarkably well. This development was due to diversification in operating services, that was the development of “tramp linerization”.

This is an analysis paper of the start of liner services and its development by tramp shipping enterprises examining under what managerial environmental and cooperate strategies, this progress was made and maintained through a case study of “MBK’s Senpakubu” (Mitsui Trading Co’s Shipping Div.) as a representative of the general merchant operator. The conclusions of this analysis are as follows:

First the liner services by Senpakubu made a good start under circumstances in which there was suitable world-wide information and a trading network provided by the Bussan Co. But secondly, being an auxiliary unit of MBK’s business, Senpakubu was requested to act on the whole organization’s agreement in decision making, which sometimes reduced the strategic time horizon of Senpakubu’s business. Thirdly, however, Senpakubu’s strategy changed into soliciting a various or a wide range of different cargoes, loading more “Shagaini” (other shipper’s cargoes) than “Shanaini” (its own cargoes) by steadily building a superior fleet, with which Senpakubu succeeded in new developments from an auxiliary unit into an autonomous functional operating unit within MBK’s trades.

1804-3/3

THE FORMATION OF OLIGOPOLISTIC STRUTCURES OF THE COTTON SPINNING INDUSTRY IN JAPAN AND THE GROWTH STRATEGIES OF THE LATE COMERS: CASE OF NAIGAIWATA CO.

Tetsuya Kuwahara

Kyoto Sangyo University

The Naigaiwata Co. began the construction of a cotton spinning mill in Shanghai, China, in 1909. Operations began in 1911 as the first mill overseas of the Japanese cotton spinning industry. Naigaiwata entered into the Japanese spinning industry on a full scale in 1905, when it was in the final stage of forming oligopolistic structure. While Naigaiwata sold only a limited volume of cotton yarns in the oligopolistic domestic market, it relied heavily on export.  This market strategy was successful during the booming era after the Russo-Japanese War.

In 1908 the Chinese cotton yarn market tempoalily shrank under the depression and the devaluation of silver currency. Then Naigaiwata had to shift the main outlets from China to domestic markets. But this move resulted only in a poor financial situation.

Facing this crisis Naigaiwata reconfirmed that it could not grow based on a domestic market alone. It was only overseas markets that Naigaiwata was given opportunities to penetrateintre.

But the export strategy was not effective enough to establish a reliable status there. Naigaiwata then planned local production in China. It had a good position to accomplish this project as it not only had had business experiences in China but owned strong leadership in executing it. The local mill was so efficiently equipped to be competitive vis-à-vis the imported yarns from India and Japan, The overseas strategy of Naigaiwata was formulated as a creative response to the various constraints to the growth of those late comers under oligopolistic structure of the cotton spinning industry in Japan.