Are Japanese firms organized into informal industrial groups called keiretsu?
Keirestu have never existed, and the concept was invented by Marxists at the Economic Research Institute who wanted to identify a source of “monopoly capital” for the Japanese market. Do firms in keiretsu arrangements cross-hold other firms stocks, therefore allowing them to pressure each other towards beneficial relationships? Not really. Was the pre-war economy controlled by zaibatsu financial cliques? These firms were only deemed “zaibatsu” because they were successful in the market when other companies were struggling through the Depression. Do Japanese firms have a “main bank” which will rescue struggling companies even without the explicit contracts to do so? There is no such thing as a “main bank,” and banks do not automatically bail out their clients. Is the Japanese economy directed by the soft authoritarian guidance of the central bureaucracy (especially MITI)? Japanese firms ignore MITI’s direction, and the courts back these firms up when the bureaucracy gets decides to pres
