SAFETY MOVEMENT,
EMPLOYMENT MANAGEMENT, AND LABOR: ILLINOIS STEEL COMPANY, 1907-1916
Tsuguyoshi Ueno
The South Works of the Illinois Steel Company, a U.S.
Steel subsidiary, created the safety committee as a main program of the
organized effort in accident prevention in 1908. The primary objective of this
essay is to describe and document that the company’s safety activities on the
shop floor level resulted in the labor management reform, and that these activities
were led by the chief safety inspectors, more commonly known as “safety men,”
who insisted that the ‘human factor” was a contributing element in accident
occurrence.
The safety men faced the ‘same problems that employment
managers would have to treat, and shortly realized that no safety devices
without improving the employment system seemed to be available to diminish
industrial accident rates. In January 1913, the company set up the new
managerial position of the Supervisor of Labor and Safety, which integrated
both functions of the safety department and the employment department. Arthur
H. Young was given charge of this supervisory work. At the same time, the
safety men had expanded the scope of the safety committees, so that they
organized “combined” committees, a new experiment for improving the
relationship between foremen and immigrant workers.
From their experience the safety men realized that the
safety problem was one of labor management, that no progress in safety could be
given without considering the human relationship of employers and employees on
the shop floor, and that immigrant workmen were not “backward, crude and
ignorant” and could be efficient actors in safety work. Safety men’s
recognition of this was the most important factor of the successful management
reform. In later years, A. H. Young concluded that “one of the by-products of
the safety movement” had been the growth of personnel management.
THE INAUGURATION OF THE
JAPANESE TV INDUSTRY AND SELECTION OF THE 14-INCH MODEL
Atsushi Hiramoto
Japanese television industry greatly lagged behind the
The view that standardizing a cheap model would make the
spread of TV faster prevailed among those in the TV industry in the early 1950s.
Denpa Gijutsu Kyokai (Radio Engineering & Electronics Association)
made a research study to establish what was the standard
model and recommended from 10 in. to 14 in. models as popular ones. This
affected the assessment of the Commodity Tax on TV, so that the rate on a set
with under 14 in. screen was lowered. The proposal of
the standard model, the lowered tax rate and market selection made TV
production in the late 1950s concentrate on almost one type, namely the 14 in.
model. Set makers vied in establishing mass production based on the
ORGANIZATION AND CREED
OF BUSINESS OF HONAI-SHONIN IN THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES
Atsuko Suzuki
Researches on honai-shonin have
been made on the assumption that they were za-shonin
living in villages (sonraku-za-shonin). One of the
issues that these researches have pointed out is that their assertion about
monopoly changed in the sixteenth century from the monopoly of transaction (ichi-za-ken) to that of trade routes. In this paper we have
inquired into this change from the viewpoint that this was the change of their
organization and creed of business. The main points we have clarified are as
follows:
First, they asserted their monopoly of trade routes upon
being recognized as a corporation. We have reached this conclusion as a result
of the elucidation of the process of their getting out of the control of shoen-ryoshu (sanmon), and of the
above-mentioned recognized by shugo-Rokkaku-shi.
Secondly, the reason of their assertion is that the goods
they dealt in increased in amount. They no longer were able to assert the
monopoly with the sales method relying upon za. So
they were forced to assert the monopoly of trade routes connecting suppliers
and retailers. This change in the form of business was in correspondence with
the emergence of a local economy on the eastern coast of
Thirdly, the reason why they could change the form of
business is that their policy was in accordance with that of shugo-Rokkaku-shi Finally, having passed through the
process mentioned above, honai-shonin transformed
themselves from medieval za-shonin to a new type of
merchants which adapted themselves to the local economy in the sixteenth
century, namely, shingi-shonin.
FORMATION OF THE
“KEIRETSU” IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF HOME APPLIANCES AT THE TIME OF HIGH ECONOMIC
GROWTH
--A case of Matsushita Hansha--
Ilsun Son
In this study I shall examine the forward integration of
distribution (in the perspective of wholesaler-hansha-)
focusing on Matsushita Electric Corporation during the high growth period in
In the foregoing chapters I have examined selected
aspects of intrabrand competition and interbrand competition. In the second section, I discuss the
establishment of the first-stage of hansha and examine
the principle of operation. In the third section, I look at the first stage of hansha to the process of the expansion of the hansha system. In the fourth section, I analyze the
relationship between Matsushita and hansha (including
existing wholesalers) from the point of view of capital and manager. In the fifth
section, I examine the changing functions of the sales offices.
Throughout this study it has been clearly observed that
(1) Hansha refer to an exclusive dealer who sells
certain maker’s goods only in certain territories. The former can exclude the
competition of multiple makers in the existing dealer system (interbrand competition). The later can remove the intrabrand competition of a certain maker in the same area.
Matsushita owns the wholesale channels, most of which
came into existence through the use of separation of top level dealers with a
long history and accumulated capability to operate.
I studied changes that have ‘taken place within the hansha system, the first stage of the development of hansha, and the second stage of the spreading of hansha nation-wide, to the third stage of the restructing of hansha. In
particular, in 1961, the second stage of the expansion of hansha
can be seen as the turning point.
(2) In 1951, Matsushita announced regulation of the hansha, whereby Matsushita was to invest over 50% of
capital and to send managers to the hansha. Until
1974, they were unable to reach that goal.
(3) Prior to the hansha system,
Matsushita was in contact with wholesalers through the sales offices. After the
hansha system was instituted, however the sales
offices’ functions changed, as they attempted to encourage the hansha, and increase their strength through exclusive
dealing and Keiretsu of the dealer shop.
MODERNIZATION OF BUSINESS
MANAGEMENT AND FOREIGN AFFILIATED COMPANIES IN
Masachika Shinomiya
The purpose of this paper is to examine how the foreign
affiliated companies contributed to the Japanese modernization of management system
in production, marketing and employment mechanism in the pre-war period.
In production, the Japanese companies studied production
technology, mass production system and
In marketing, the Japanese companies studied franchise
system and sales in installment system.
In employment mechanism, the Japanese companies did away
with sub-contract system and introduced the direct employment.
In conclusion, the Japanese modernization of business
management has been done throughout the transfer of business system that the
foreign affiliated companies had introduced. At the same time, both the
Japanese companies and the foreign affiliated companies have taken a positive
attitude to R&D.
CUSTOMER RELATIONS AND
GROWTH OF TRADING COMPANIES: THE FORMATION (MITSUI CO. LTD) OF MITSUI BUSSAN IN
1950S
Huang Xiao Chun
The general trading company, Sogo Shosha,
is usually defined as “a firm that trades all kinds of goods and services with
all nations of the world.” The emergence of the Sogo Shosha
in
In this paper, I explain the formation of the general
trading company from the perspective of customer relations. I did a case study
on Mitsui Busan (Mitsui Co. Ltd), one of the biggest
Sogo Shosha in
From the information I gathered from Mitsui Busan, I have focused on their customer relations around
1959. From there, I have grouped the major customers, who have business
dealings of more than \0.5 billion a year with Mitsui Bussan, into Mitsui
Keiretsu, non-Mitsui Keiretsu, and subsidiary companies. I discovered that
Mitsui Bussan’s transactions with its major customers were consistent and that
they covered a very wide variety of goods and services. It was also discovered
that Mitsui Bussan had very specific product dealings with specific groups of
customers. The formation of Mitsui Bussan arose from the transaction and
relations with its customers, and thus formed a heavily dependent customer
network.
In conclusion, the most important factor was their tightly-knit
customer relations and network with all its customers. It is a misconception
that Mitsui Bussan only had strong relations with the Mitsui Group. In actual
fact, non-Mitsui Group customers were as highly valued as those from the parent
group. Therefore, in analysing the emergence of Sogo Shosha in
DOMESTIC MARKET OF RAW
SILK IN PREWAR
Kaneo Uchida
It goes without saying that economic and industrial
growth of prewar
This paper attempts to
clarify the increasing domestic market and consumption of raw silk during the
period from 1870s to 1920s by closely examining the various kinds of
statistical data including cocoon production as original material. This also
tries to analyze a secular trend of the domestic demand, as well as production
and distribution process of raw silk in prewar