Zaibatsu

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A zaibatsu ( Japanese 財閥 , literally: "wealthy clan", meaning: "family-owned holding company") is a Japanese conglomerate of companies that also operates abroad , a special type of family company .

Use of terms

In addition to its economic definition, the term was used in various cyberpunk works in the 1980s, where it referred to every Asian company conglomerate . An organization in the computer game Grand Theft Auto 2 is also called that.

Zaibatsus before 1945

The first Zaibatsu emerged after the Meiji Restoration (1868) and heralded industrialization in the Japanese Empire . The first zaibatsu was founded by the Mitsui family, who from the second half of the 17th century ( Edo period ) successfully amassed fortunes with their haberdashery and money shops in Edo , Kyoto and Osaka .

The Zaibatsu - organized like the Big Four - no longer exist in their original form. She and about 15 others were after the Second World War by the American occupying power , represented by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers classified as Zaibatsu and dissolved 1946/1947 or unbundled and decentralized organized business groups converted. The keiretsu , which still exist today, emerged from them .

The big four

Further

Shinko zaibatsu

Zaibatsu of the present are called shinkō zaibatsu . They are no longer created purely on the basis of a family and the shareholders are definitely not (family) people. Another difference is the fact that the company group no longer has its own family banks; financial transactions are now carried out by banks outside of such a company.

Zaibatsu in other states

They are co- spelled with the Jaebeols in South Korea , e.g. B. Samsung , as well as with conglomerates founded in the 19th century in India such as Tata Sons and Birla .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John P. Kotter: Matsushita's Leadership . Simon & Schuster, New York 1997, ISBN 0-684-83460-X , pp. 137ff.
  2. ↑ Florian Hassel: Rapid catch-up: Japan was the China of the 20th century . In: THE WORLD . March 20, 2011 ( welt.de [accessed August 8, 2018]).
  3. ↑ Caroline Fohlin: Mobilizing Money . Cambridge University Press. New York, 2012. pp. 94ff. ISBN 978-05218-1021-0 .