The Financial Times, now owned by the Nihon Keisai Shimbun (the Nikkei newspaper)–and which should therefore have a particularly sharp insight into goings on in corporate Japan, had an interesting article the other day about Toshiba.
Toshiba is facing possible bankruptcy and potential delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange as a result of the disastrous performance of its nuclear power business. To avoid this fate, it has decided to sell its flash memory business, which is a world leader in this important class of semiconductor devices and owns essential intellectual property for their manufacture.
The Japanese government is intervening in the matter, with the aim of ensuring that this important asset remains in Japanese hands. What is distinctly not happening, as pointed out in an FT article two days ago, is any aid being offered by other members of the Mitsui industrial group. This is very unusual.
background
At the core of Japanese economy in the first half of the twentieth century stood a number of powerful industrial conglomerates, called zaibatsu, which emerged from the samurai culture of shogun-era Tokyo. The zaibatsu were outlawed after WWII for their role in Japan’s participation in that conflict. But their dissolution was in name only. The groups continue to exist in substance but were referred to as keiretsu.
One of the principal features of the keiretsu is mutual assistance in times of trouble.
For example,
Some years ago, Mistubishi Motors tried to buy its way into the US car market with a “0-0-0” financing campaign. That meant zero down, a zero interest rate on 100% financing, and no loan repayment for the first year. As it turned out, there was also a fourth zero–no credit checks. And very large number of buyers (if you can call them that) simply made no payments when the time came. They continued to drive the cars until they were repossessed. Mitsubishi Motors as a whole, not just the US subsidiary, was faced with financial failure as a result.
What happened?
The other members of the Mitsubishi group injected hundreds of billions of yen into the auto company so that it remained afloat. I remember speaking about this at the time with the chairman of Mitsubishi Corp, the group’s trading company. He was deeply unhappy about having to invest in the auto arm of the group, and knew that this made no economic sense, but felt that his honor demanded that he do so.
today
Fast-forwarding to today and Toshiba …not a peep from other Mitsui group members.
There may be something unusual about Toshiba. More likely, the zaibatsu concept, a vital aspect of the samurai culture, may have finally passed its best-by date. Interesting, too, that this should come while a descendant of the samurai is the prime minister.