University of Pittsburgh
Shashi: the Journal of Japanese Business and Company HistoryNot a member yet
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内田今朝雄. すべからく60点主義：資生堂を美しく輝かせた男、大村匡一郎（元副社）の軌跡。東京：内田今朝雄, 2012.
Get PDFThis reviews a biographical profile of Omura Kyoichiro, who headed Shiseido\u27s advertising department in the 1970s and 1980s, by one of his colleagues
“Shiseidô’s ‘Empire of Beauty’: Marketing Japanese Modernity in Northeast Asia, 1932-1945”
Get PDFAccording to a 2011 news release by the company, "Shiseido is focusing on expanding sales in emerging markets with the aim of becoming \u27a global player representing Asia with its origins in Japan\u27."[1] The cosmopolitan image of the company overlaying its Japanese identity lends itself to intriguing prewar parallels and debates over cultures representing both East and West. As noted by Frank Dikötter in his study of early Republican Era (1912-1949) Chinese material culture: "The endless circulation, domestication and recycling of objects with the advent of the global economy has frequently offended the guardians of cultural barriers: the notion of \u27hybridity\u27 has been used to perpetuate the illusion of \u27authenticity\u27."[2] This hybrid "Empire of Beauty" rather than purely Japanese idea of beauty unveiled in Russia, along with Shiseidô\u27s new Asian focus, are in fact much older business concepts dating back to the early 20th century. Not surprisingly, like other Japanese companies in the 1930s, Shiseidô also began its advent into emerging markets in the prewar period, where the progress of cosmetic penetration into northeast Asia paralleled imperial Japan\u27s military intrusions.In addition, Shiseidô’s unique modernist visual culture sold images of an empire of beauty, where women consumers on the continent helped support an emerging politics of national identity in their product choices. The company\u27s intersection of modernist advertising and national propaganda reveals the multifaceted interests of organizations like Shiseidô involved in marketing the Japanese empire and its appealing modernity. [1] Shiseido News Release, "Shiseido to Introduce Corporate Culture and Promote Sales at Event in Russia,", 1. [2] Dikötter, Exotic Commodities: Modern Objects and Everyday Life in China, 5
On Charitable Enterprise in Europe and America
Get PDFTranslator’s Note: The essays in Jotoku ronsō was intended for young women, and the essays are written in what was then simple and direct language. Other topics in the volume include education, literature and art . The cream of late Meiji intellectual society contributed, including Okuma Shigenobu, Masaki Naohiko (head of Tokyo School of FIne Arts), and Mizukuri Genpachi (historian of the Western World). Shibusawa’s contribution, although appearing to be a simple travelogue, offers insight into his perception as philanthropy as a natural outgrowth of business. He also touches on many debates about social welfare that continue until this day, including the effect of poverty on crime, whether prisons should be about punishment or reform and whether responsibility for poverty lies in the the individual or society.
Shibusawa Eiichi, Dai Ichi Bank, and the Spirit of Japanese Capitalism, 1860-1930
Get PDFShibusawa Eiichi (1840-1931) has been called the “father of Japanese capitalism” and was associated with nearly five hundred business enterprises in his lifetime. From his main position as head of Dai Ichi Bank, Shibusawa was a strong advocate for business interests when the Japanese government was generally preoccupied with military concerns. He also consistently argued that business leaders should look to Confucian principle for moral guidance if they were to maintain the public\u27s trust. Through an analysis of Shibusawa\u27s public statements and his legacy in subsequent historical scholarship, particularly Dai Ichi Bank\u27s 1957 official company history, we see that appeals for strong civilian initiative guided by both moral principle and economic rationality have long been an important theme in modern Japanese economic and business history
