Zaibatsu Corporate Culture

Translating to “wealthy clique” the Zaibatsu were the conglomerate businesses created during the Meiji restoration where one company comprised of one family held complete control over all subsidiaries while maintaining a monopoly of the industry sector. Dating back to the Tokugawa period the prominent large merchant houses would transcend to become Zaibatsu and during this time companies were just beginning to form with little separation between shareholders and management. Their economic growth would surge through World War I, but the gap between the long established Zaibatsu and new Zaibatsu would leave only the largest conglomerates to be operating and controlling a large part of Japan’s economy. It wouldn’t be until post World War II where Japan was ordered to dissolve the Zaibatsus allowing sale of the conglomerate stock. Individual companies were now freed from parent companies, still, though, the shift caused little change in corporate culture as the control and coordination of the previous organization still remained in tact. Zaibatsus play a major roll in the Japanese business firm, as they presage what …show more content…
There is absolutely no taking away of the distinctive corporate culture Japan has cultivated but it is through multiculturalism the Japanese firm is able to diversify and bring new concepts and practices. Some of Japans largest and most global firms such as Toyota, Rakuten, and Uniqlo have really been able to find such success due to their embracement of other cultures and their business practices. Japan’s convergence of the West in regards to the business firm is definitely in it’s development stage but they are steadily striving to a much more multicultural society and corporate culture while remaining completely