The purpose of this study is to clarify the formation process of the sporting-goods industrial structure by investigating what kind of sporting-goods industrial organization has been established under the legal system concerned with the organization of the small - to medium - sized enterprises since of Japan' s postwar reconstruction, and to explain the historical significance of this process. This study analyzed articles of 'Nihon Undogu Shinpo', which is a sporting-goods trade newspaper first published in Japan from 1948 to 1956, by using the historical research method. First, the postwar reconstruction of the sporting-goods business was started by the establishment of sporting-goods manufacture industrial organizations, classified by the production materials of leather, lumber, metal and fiber. Sporting-goods makers had to unite as an organization, in order to supply good quality sporting-goods immediately. Although the organization which managed the distribution of gymnastics and sports materials under the wartime economy control policy was abolished in 1948, this required a new system which could assume the role of adjustment of the demand and supply for sporting-goods. While sporting-goods wholesale organizations were born as a result, and they were aimed at the adjustment of relations between the sporting-goods manufacturers and the sporting-goods retailers, these developments had a strong influence on both. Although economic controls were eased after 1949, a high commodity tax was still imposed on sporting-goods. In order to get rid of such a situation, a new organization which unified makers, wholesalers and retailers concerned with sporting-goods was founded. This organization developed an active political campaign for the abolition of the economic controls and the unification of the whole sporting-goods industry. Thus, there were both cooperation and resistance in regard to the postwar economic policy in the establishment of a sporting-goods industrial organization. It is a notable feature of Japan' s sporting-goods industry structure that the sporting-goods wholesale industry was able to manage the adjustment of these two sides.
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