著者

水野 敦洋

出版者

政治経済学・経済史学会

雑誌

歴史と経済 (ISSN:13479660)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.63, no.4, pp.16-26, 2021-07-30 (Released:2023-07-30)

参考文献数

38

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This paper clarifies the response of Japanese small- and medium-sized industries to international competition in the period between World War I and World War II. It focuses on producers of Japanese matches and their role in exports and local production for the Chinese market. Growth in this industry had been driven by exports throughout the Meiji era (1886‒1912). However, Japanese match production lost its competitiveness during the interwar period because of the growing competitiveness of less-developed countries and the establishment of international trusts. In the match industry, however, two mechanisms eased this situation. The first was the maintenance of domestic production through the introduction of foreign capital, and the second was local production through foreign direct investment. In the latter case, a number of manufacturers became local producers in China, which was a conventional export market. They increased their profit margins in the 1920s, compensating for the slump in Japan. The Japanese share of match production in China was by no means large. However, from the perspective of individual manufacturers, it was equivalent to the value of products exported from factories in Japan. Therefore, sluggish product exports and loss of overseas markets were not necessarily damaging to Japanese manufacturers. At the same time, Japanese manufacturers faced not only competition with Chinese manufacturers but also difficulties such as a series of boycotts of Japanese products. Furthermore, during the chronic recession in China in the 1930s, the entire match industry, including Chinese manufacturers, was on the verge of collapse. The match industry responded to this situation by forming a production and sales cartel through the mediation of Chinese merchants who traditionally dealt in match imports from Japan. This led in turn to the cooperative coexistence of Japanese manufacturers and Chinese manufacturers, which can be understood as the final phase of Sino-Japanese business relationships before the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The development of the Japanese match industry in China clearly differs from that of the cotton spinning industry, which is usually assumed to typify the prewar period. To understand the development of Japanese small- and medium-sized industries, which took place on a transnational scale, we must both product exports and local production.

著者

水野 敦洋

出版者

経営史学会

雑誌

経営史学 (ISSN:03869113)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.54, no.1, pp.3-22, 2019 (Released:2021-06-30)

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The present study clarifies the actual condition of overseas expansion of products and production of the pre-war Japanese miscellaneous goods industry by highlighting the relationship between the trading companies and manufacturers as a case example of the match industry developed in the Hanshin area (Kobe and Osaka). Two leading match makers of different development types were selected for the purpose of this study. The study period spans from around the 1900s, when match export from Japan advanced, to the early 1920s, when it entered a stagnant phase.In 1900, majority of the match exports from Japan were carried out by Chinese merchants residing in the Hanshin area. Therefore, trade with Chinese merchants was inevitable for match makers at the time to send products to overseas markets. At the same time, however, Mitsui Bussan, a leading trading company in Japan, entered the match export business with the aim of restoring commercial rights from Chinese merchants. Therefore, various types of match makers emerged, such as those linked to Chinese merchants and those to Mitsui. Both match makers stimulated industry development through competition and cooperation.However, during the recession of the 1920s following the First World War, the growth of both the match makers diverged. Match manufacturers linked to Chinese merchants aggressively expanded overseas production to China, Korea, and India, which were previously product export destinations. However, similar attempts by match manufacturers linked to Mitsui were not very successful. These case examples show that the link with Chinese merchants established through the export of products until that time was strong even when match makers launched overseas production.