北東アジアにおける連携の模索

Searching for Future Desirable Directions of Japanese Firms

We will search for desirable future directions and reciprocal cooperative plans through a historical review of Japanese firms from 1864 (Meiji Restoration) to 2000. We would like to pay particular attention to the 1970s. In this period, Japanese Firms were suffering from five serious problems. The first problem was the sharply increasing costs for protecting the environment. Second was the first big change of the currency rate. The Japanese yen had risen against the US dollar. Therefore, the export costs of Japanese products to the USA sharply increased. Competitive costs of Japanese firms in the US market were at a terrible disadvantage. Third was the Oil crisis. The Japanese economy met difficult times. Fourth, the technological basis of Japanese corporations was not strong in those days. Fifth, Japanese corporations did not have the strong economic power they have today. Japanese firms faces up to these problems. They carried out Total Quality Control(TQC) through QC circles. Across many industries, they cooperated in technological innovation to make high-quality products. They found the compatibility of TQC and high-quality products with the reduction of resources and energies, cutting costs of products and achieving an economic high performance of corporations. Finally they could find a path to a sustainable economy. We will be able to point out an alternative to the sustainable economy and environmental management systems of business corporations through an analysis of the experiences of Japanese Firms. It is important that the business corporations of Korea, Japan, China take cooperative initiative in building and operating recycle systems throughout East Asia.