戦間期製菓業における垂直統合

―森永製菓のグループ化の事例―

抄録

This paper aims to provide a brief account of the growth of the Western confectionery industry in Japan, focusing on Morinaga's vertical integration during the interwar period.

Western confectionary was introduced into Japan around the beginning of the Meiji period. When Morinaga was founded, in 1899, there was neither a market for the ingredients nor a distribution channel for Western confectionary in Japan. In that case, how did Morinaga procure ingredients and create a market for its new products?

The dairy industry was immature in those days but had excellent business opportunities, both inside and outside the country. Morinaga thus developed these and moved into the dairy industry. Consolidating some dairy businesses into a single company after WWI, it was thereby able to steadily secure ingredients. Later, when Morinaga's performance fell, it founded a corporate spin-off as the running costs were too high for Morinaga to maintain it.

In the 1920s, in order to strengthen sales when a competitor, Meiji Seika, was established, Morinaga and various wholesale stores established sales companies. There was only a low-level capital relationship between Morinaga and these sales companies, however, so their elimination or consolidation did not damage Morinaga. The sales companies to which Morinaga sold its products had to take the risk of sluggish Morinaga sales, which supported Morinaga, especially through asset liquidation and a capital reduction from 15 to 7.5 million yen. In spite of Morinaga's development of a Beltline store system, however, it was unable to control the small retail-store units.

Summarizing, Morinaga took measures towards vertical integration in order to secure ingredients and control its distribution network. The immaturity of the ingredients market meant that the main factor in this aspect of the vertical integration was the stabilization of ingredients provision, while Morinaga was able to maintain its group through corporate spin-off and risk hedging.