Risk Management Strategies of Japanese Companies in China
In the context of political tensions and rising economic interdependence between Japan and China, this book studies how Japanese multinational companies try to minimize damages and manage their own fear and uncertainty to sustain their business interests.
Using a qualitative approach, including over 150 interviews with Japanese and Chinese business and industry leaders, combined with statistical analysis of unique firm-level data, this book brings a firm-level view to this crucial case of political conflict amid economic interdependence. It argues that there is wide variation in the degree of material damages Japanese multinationals sustain in the aftermath of political disputes, and in how threatening they perceive the risks of political conflict to be. This book then goes on to evaluate the different responses to risk, from promoting Japans culture through privately funded tactics and building common cause with the government, to diversifying a portion of assets abroad and even leaving China entirely.
Presenting a new angle on economic globalization in the Asia Pacific region, Risk Management Strategies of Japanese Companies in China will be useful to students and scholars of Asian politics, business, and economics as well as international political economy.
Kristin Vekasi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and School of Policy and International Affairs at the University of Maine, USA. She holds a PhD in political science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
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Edited by Marco Milani, Antonio Fiori and Matteo Dian
The Ever-Changing Sino-Japanese Rivalry
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Risk Management Strategies of Japanese Companies in China
Political Crisis and Multinational Firms
Kristin Vekasi
For the full list of titles in the series, visit: www.routledge.com/Politics-in-Asia/book-series/PIA
Risk Management Strategies of Japanese Companies in China
Political Crisis and Multinational Firms
Kristin Vekasi
First published 2020
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2020 Kristin Vekasi
The right of Kristin Vekasi to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Vekasi, Kristin, author.
Title: Risk management strategies of Japanese companies in China : political crisis and multinational firms / Kristin Vekasi.
Description: 1 Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2020. | Series: Politics in Asia | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019010611 (print) | LCCN 2019019525 (ebook) | ISBN 9780429262241 (Ebook) | ISBN 9780429552847 (Adobe Reader) | ISBN 9780429557316 (ePub) | ISBN 9780429561788 (Mobipocket Encrypted) | ISBN 9780367205577 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Corporations, JapaneseChina. | International business enterprisesChinaManagement. | Risk managementChina.
Classification: LCC HD2910 (ebook) | LCC HD2910 .V45 2020 (print) | DDC 658.15/50951dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019010611
ISBN: 978-0-367-20557-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-26224-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For Gregory and Lyra
Contents
The spark for this book came from seemingly unrelated fieldwork. In 2004, while on a Fulbright at Tohoku University in Sendai, I was deep in a project on political organizing of contingent workers in the Japanese labor movement. Japanese manufacturing was hollowing out, blue-collar jobs moving overseas (many to China), and Japanese labor organizations were trying to respond to the new precariousness of workers. While talking with inspiring labor leaders around Japan, I spoke with an activist in Osaka who mentioned his unions efforts to build solidarity with workers in China even as employers shifted jobs there from Japan. The discussion took place close to the time when Japans key victory at the 2004 Asia Cup had sparked violence in China and some fans needed to be escorted out of the stadium by the police for their safety, an event widely publicized in Japanese media. How, I wondered, do nationalistic passions, outrage for historical atrocities, globalization, and shifts in the geography of manufacturing and business all interact? Years later in graduate school, my interests shifted to exploring the multinational firm in this same context. While the move from the workshop floor to the corporate boardroom is a large one, the study of both shares a dynamic of how ordinary work and business interactions take on new meanings across borders.
This book grew out of my dissertation at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and would not have been possible without the mentorship of the faculty and support and friendship of my fellow students. I particularly need to thank Aseema Sinha, who chaired my committee. Another special thanks goes to Melanie Manion for providing wonderful mentorship and building a strong community to study Chinese politics in Madison. The Chinese Politics Workshop she ran not only introduced us to top scholars from around the country, but also nurtured a strong, supportive group to improve our own work. Thank you to everyone, including Meina Cai, Dominic De Sapio, Timothy Hildebrandt, Brandon Lamson, Leah Larson-Rabin, Dalton Lin, Jinjie Liu, Ning Leng, Nayantara Mukherji, David Ohls, Kerry Ratigan, Samantha Vortherms, and Zuo Cai. My thinking as a social scientist and scholar of Northeast Asia deepened and improved immeasurably from the support of this group. I am also deeply grateful to the members of my dissertation committee for their careful reading and thoughtful comments on the dissertation. Thank you Mark Copelovitch, Edward Friedman, Gregory Noble, and Jon Pevehouse.
