- 著者
-
田中 彰
- 出版者
- 産業学会
- 雑誌
- 産業学会研究年報 (ISSN:09187162)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.1995, no.10, pp.65-74,95, 1995-03-31 (Released:2009-10-08)
This Paper considers the politics that steelmakers took with regard to sogo shosha (large general trading companies) and specialist trading companies during the period of Japan's rapid economic growth, when the amount of imported iron ore was expanding rapidly.The steel companies typically maintained exclusive relations with a specific trader vis a vis each of a large number of small mines, mainly in Southeast Asia, during the 1950s. In the 1960s, however, newly developed large-scale ore mining projects became the primary source of supply. In order to develop such huge projects, the steelmakers needed the information, financing, transport, and the organizer-role of the sogo shosha. Many specialist steel traders attempted to develop capabilities comparable to the sogo shosha in order to maintain their leading roles. However, while a number of the former textile traders were successful in becoming sogo shosha, most of the specialist steel traders generally failed, despite assistance from the steelmakers, and were instead absorbed by their larger sogo shosha competitors. The steelmakers switched increasingly to the sogo shosha as their main traders, resulting in the top 6 such organizations handling 58.5% of the business in 1965, rising to 71.8% by 1971.Those specialist steel traders that did not attempt to become sogo shosha became affiliated agents for their large steelmaker customer/patrons. Through the 1960s, the steelmakers recognized and strengthend them into virtual in-house traders. These in-house traders operated essentially as if they were parts of the respective steelmakers. In the late 1960s, steelmakers were able to avoid a complete sogo shosha oligopoly grip on ore by increasing their own imports through the in-house traders. Thus, the competition in ore-importing between the sogo shosha and the in-house traders can be seen primary as a struggle between the sogo shosha and the steelmakers themselves.