by Ekrem Duman | Jul 22, 2026 | Japan Company Stories, Keiretsu & Conglomerates
⚡ TL;DRThe main bank system is the financial glue of the Japanese keiretsu: each group centers on a bank that lends to, monitors and holds shares in its member firms. This guide explains how the system worked, how it disciplined companies, why it weakened after the...
by Ekrem Duman | Jul 22, 2026 | Japan Company Stories, Keiretsu & Conglomerates
⚡ TL;DRZaibatsu and keiretsu are the two great forms of Japanese business grouping. Zaibatsu were family-controlled conglomerates that dominated pre-war Japan; keiretsu are the looser, cross-shareholding networks that replaced them after 1945. This guide explains the...
by Ekrem Duman | Jul 22, 2026 | Japan Company Stories, Keiretsu & Conglomerates
⚡ TL;DRSumitomo is Japan’s third great keiretsu, born from a 17th-century copper-smelting and mining business. Its guiding creed — ‘benefit self, benefit others, benefit society’ — still shapes a group spanning metals, chemicals, banking, electronics...
by Ekrem Duman | Jul 22, 2026 | Japan Company Stories, Keiretsu & Conglomerates
⚡ TL;DRMitsui is one of Japan’s oldest and most powerful business groups, tracing its origins to a 17th-century kimono shop and money-changing house. Today the Mitsui keiretsu spans the giant Mitsui & Co. trading house, Sumitomo Mitsui banking ties,...
by Ekrem Duman | Jul 22, 2026 | Japan Company Stories, Keiretsu & Conglomerates
⚡ TL;DRThe Mitsubishi Group is not a single company but a loose federation of roughly 40 independent firms — from banking and heavy industry to cars and beer — bound together by history, cross-shareholdings and the monthly Friday Conference. This guide explains how...
