This paper aims to clarify how IBM Japan shifted its computer sales method from renting to leasing in the 1970s-1980s, focusing on the movements of foreign-affiliated, specialized, and general leasing companies.

Until 1971, there was no room for leasing companies to participate in IBM computer leasing. However, Nippon Computer (a specialized leasing company) and Showa Lease (a general leasing company) entered the market in 1972, SIS (a foreign-affiliated company) entered the market in 1973, and Nippon Computer and Computer Service (a specialized leasing company) started operating leases in partnership with U.S. companies in the mid-1970s.

After the latter half of 1976, general leasing companies engaged in finance leases could enter the market due to IBM’s policy of accelerated purchase prices. Still, they faced difficulty competing with foreign-affiliated and specialized leasing companies engaged in operating leases.

In the early 1980s, general leasing companies rapidly increased their lease sales of large IBM computers, taking advantage of the situation that emerged from IBM Japan’s purchase-advance pricing strategy. In March 1982, IBM Japan formed a business alliance with general leasing companies to strengthen its sales force and ease the burden of fund procurement. Subsequently, it established its own specialized leasing company in January 1983 to break through the competition with Orient Leasing, which had earlier focused on operating leases of IBM computers.

This study tracks the changes in the industrial structure of the Japanese shipping industry from the 1970s to the 1990s, focusing on how the Imabari Shipowners successfully gained market share. Although previous studies have focused on the larger-scale Operators, scant research has been done on how the Imabari Shipowners came to own 30% of all Japanese deep-sea as of 2018, and a global share of about 4%.

This study revealed two points. First, the growth of the shipping industry in the Imabari region reached a turning point in the 1990s. Imabari Shipowners, who started their business from coastal shipping, began to expand into the deep-sea by the 1980s with the help of shipbuilding companies and banks in the respective region. This allowed the Imabari area to build an intra-regional network with related and supporting industries. Then, in the 1990s, the number of vessels and the size of the vessels owned by Imabari Shipowners grew rapidly. Second, the Japanese macroeconomic environment, exchange rates, interest rates, and market conditions, in the 1990s also supported the growth of Imabari Shipowners. At the same time, the breakdown of subcontracting in the Japanese shipping industry after the 1970s also created room for expansion of Imabari shipowners. The large demand for capital and shipbuilding resulting from this expansion could not be absorbed only within the Imabari region but spread outside the region with the help of the general trading companies and major banks.

These findings highlight a change in the relationship between ship operators and shipowners in the Japanese shipping industry. After Imabari Shipowners emerged, shipowners were able to deal with multiple operators, including foreign companies. The relationship between shipowners and operators changed from a subordinate relationship to a more equal contractual one.