経営史学
Online ISSN : 1883-8995
Print ISSN : 0386-9113
ISSN-L : 0386-9113
59 巻, 2 号
選択された号の論文の3件中1~3を表示しています
論文
  • ―藤森正巳の自転車事業をめぐって―
    牧 幸輝
    2024 年 59 巻 2 号 p. 3-26
    発行日: 2024年
    公開日: 2024/12/25
    ジャーナル 認証あり

    This article provides a novel perspective on the dissolution of the Zaibatsu and economic reconstruction in post-war Japan through research on Handa Kinzoku Kogyo (Handa Metal Industry Co., Ltd.). It was a bicycle manufacturing company founded in October 1946 by Masami Fujimori, former Deputy Director of Nakajima Aircraft Co., Ltd. Handa plant which became one of the biggest bicycle manufacturers during the post-war period.

    The study examines the rapid growth of Handa Kinzoku Kogyo in the bicycle industry. Fujimori established connections with then-government to get materials and financial support. He adopted an integrated production system by adopting in-house production. The factories were built at the site of Nakajima Aircraft plant. Thus, he implemented the experience and learning from Nakajima Aircraft plant.

    This study further examines why Fujimori founded Handa Kinzoku Kogyo. In 1945 the General Headquarters Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (GHQ) ordered that Nakajima Aircraft plant be dismantled similar to Mitsui or Mitsubishi Zaibatsu and banned it from aircraft manufacturing. Permission from GHQ was required for civilian production, this posed an obstacle to company’s reconstruction for Nakajima Aircraft. Therefore, Fujimori found Handa Kinzoku Kogyo as an independent company without permission from GHQ. Nakajima Aircraft was split into 12 smaller companies in 1950 which became the secondary companies resulting from the dissolution of the Zaibatsu. This shows that Handa Kinzoku Kogyo was a secondary company prior to the establishment of the 12 companies. Thus, there was a movement to establish an independent secondary company during the dissolution of the Zaibatsu without the required permission for civilian production.

  • 相川 雄哉
    2024 年 59 巻 2 号 p. 27-51
    発行日: 2024年
    公開日: 2024/12/25
    ジャーナル 認証あり

    While the role of clusters in promoting industrial development has been increasingly recognized, the long-term historical development processes of industrial clusters have seldom been analyzed. This article explores the long-term process of cluster development, with special attention to the changing roles of agglomeration economies, as well as networking and collective actions of breweries, based on the post-war experience of sake brewing districts in Japan. Nada, the most advanced brewing district in Japan, had grown through the horizontal division of labor between large firms, which engaged in both production and sales, and small firms, which specialized in production, during the 1950s, when production was labor-intensive and the availability of raw material of rice was limited. In addition, the firms in Nada had enjoyed the Marshallian agglomeration economies arising from the developed skilled labor market in this period. In the 1960s and 1970s, however, the adoption of capital-intensive mechanized brewing method, induced by significant wage growth, replaced skilled labor in Nada. Such diminishing importance of skilled labor was achieved by sacrificing the quality of sake. In recent years, Nada’s breweries have faced a rapid decline in demand for their reasonable-quality sake, due to the increasing demand for high-quality sake mainly produced by small-sized firms in small brewing districts. This crisis induced the quality improvement in Nada’s sake through the establishment of local district brand by collectively internalizing the external benefits of information spillovers about improved production methods. As a result, the declining production of the district was halted. This suggests the important role of innovation through local collective action among firms in the development of industrial clusters, which has not been taken into account in the Marshallian theory of agglomeration.

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