Whither the Keiretsu, Japan's Business Networks? How Were They Structured? What Did They Do? Why Are They Gone?

From the introduction:
It is our view, supported by wide-ranging and consistent evidence, that the Japanese postwar keiretsu system is mostly a thing of the past. In the face of powerful forces of
institutional and economic change, the groups have “withered away,” such that they no longer represent a significant feature of the Japanese economic landscape, despite having been so from the 1950’s to the early 2000’s.

Source: Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Working Paper Series. via eScholarship Repository

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