Japan : Coordinated Capitalism between Institutional Change and Structural Inertia

This chapter of the Oxford Handbook of Asian Business Systems provides an overview of the institutional structure of the business system of Japan. It explores the role of the state, the financial system, ownership and corporate governance, the internal structure of the firm (management), employment relations, education and skills formation, inter-company relations (networks), and social capital. The analysis suggests that recent institutional change in the Japanese business system has been less pronounced than many observers expected or claimed. Informality — deviance of actual practice from formal structures — in the Japanese business system lies at the heart of much of this divergence. This chapter contributes directly to the business systems and varieties of capitalism literature and identifies institutional contingencies for comparative and international social science research in general