ABSTRACT
This collection outlined and analysed the emergence and evolution of Japanese
multinational companies (MNCs) across a range of sectors in a variety of ways. These
range from watches to textiles to electronics in terms of global value chains (GVC),
vertical specialization, subsidiary evolution, localization, expatriation, cross-national
distance and alliance management. We noted the historical and context-specific ebb and
flow of MNC organization, structure and foreign direct investment (FDI) patterns. For
example, that leading general trading companies (sogoshosha) were often the arms of
business conglomerates (zaibatsu and keiretsu) and government sponsorship and contacts
were central to their growth and success (see Fitzgerald 2015), a model that would be
replicated in South Korea, with their general trading companies and chaebol (see Jun and
Rowley 2014).
