ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

The purposes of this article are to figure out current group management of Japanese business groups and to draw implications for Korean business groups, so-called Chaebols. Three Japanese business groups, Mitsubishi, Hitachi, and Sony, are investigated. For each business group, brief history, mission and brand management, corporate governance, and strategy and organizational structure are described. The description is based on public and internal materials and interviews with mangers in each business group. The implications from the investigations are as follows. First, the Japanese cases suggest an alternative of future group management for Korean business groups, where there exist no centralization of ownership by a particular person or family but strong integration among member firms. Second, not only mutual equity ownership but also co-ownership of mission and brand is an important method of integration among member firms. Third, group management of business firms also has the characteristics of path-dependence, and the future patterns of group management for Korean business groups can differ among groups.

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