Strategy and Organization of Multinationals to address the Non-Market Risks and Insitutions

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17H02550
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Economic history
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: KUROSAWA Takafumi 京都大学, 経済学研究科, 教授 (30294507)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 橘川 武郎 国際大学, 国際経営学研究科, 教授(移行) (20161507) ; ドンゼ ピエール・イヴ 大阪大学, 大学院経済学研究科, 教授 (20635718)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 多国籍企業 / 政治リスク / 大戦 / 組織 / 税制 / 戦略 / 国際経営 / 地政学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A. Holding companies were widely used to avoid political risk from around the 1880s; B. Holding companies became widespread in Europe in the 1920s in response to World War I and the sharp rise in tax burdens, making the governance structure of European companies opaque; C. "safehaven economies" in various regions emerged as the recipients of this risk with the support and endorsement of national governments; and D. These relationships between non-market risks and organizational structures and special organizational designs were maintained during the Cold War and the postwar upsurge of decolonialism and nationalism; E. In Japan, non-market risks also defined the organizational forms of foreign investment and subsidiaries in Japan in the energy industry from the 1930s to the post-WWII period. In recent years, "organizational design" has come back into focus with the increased focus on economic security issues and the decoupling risks.

Free Research Field

経済史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

経営史では，企業の戦略・組織の変遷を技術的・市場的条件等で説明してきた。「資本主義の多様性」論やビジネス・システム論，企業統治研究も同様である。しかし，米中の覇権対立を軸に国際秩序が動揺する今日，自由で統合された世界市場を自明視し，企業が政治的制約に煩わされず経済合理性のみで行動すると想定することの非現実性が，再び認識されつつある。総力戦の時代の企業の経験が企業の戦略・組織に及ぼした影響を解明した本研究は，企業戦略・組織に関する歴史像を転換したというのみならず，安全保障や政治リスクに直面する今日の多国籍企業に直接の教訓を与えるという意味でも意義を持つ。