Why Japan continues to make itself less than the sum of its economic parts

ARTICLE: "Japan's Companies Gird for Attack: Fearing Takeovers, They Rebuild Walls; Rise of Poison Pills," by Andrew Morse and Sebastian Moffett, Wall Street Journal, 30 April 2008, p. A1.

Maybe Murdoch didn't bank sub-titles after all!

Japan's companies are good targets for takeovers, so the walls go up. Better for Japan to stay Japanese than improve.

This is why Japan remains unimportant and un-influential in global affairs: it can't embrace such roles because it cannot embrace the world. Compare this to a China that lets outside multinationals control two-thirds of its exports.

Comments

[William R. Cumming.]

It does seem that Japan has bet on long-term national cohesion as opposed to other approaches. Time and history will tell if that is the correct approach. I believe the British Coat of Arms has one word on it, specifically "ENDURE" and remains to be seen what will have endured over next 100 or 1000 years of history.

[s]

The economic globalization tropes are only as good as the sovereign appetite for buying increasingly worthless Treasuries. The Chinese and Japanese have to engage each other as they realize the sustainability of the US model is permanently imapired and they need to spur intra regional trade.

Japan is a blueprint not a contrast to the US. would love to know how companies that have powered the export economy and set the standard for innovation and efficiency are going to be helped by being owned by US vultures, which have become adept at asset stripping and little more. The only thing the US brings to the table these days is leverage and that is passe. If you really believe the China growth story, then this is hardly the time to sell, especially when you are so undervalued (against what, an overvalued US). Finance 101. I wouldn't sell either. The US playbook is old and tired.

[Jarrod Myrick]

s,

I hope you stick around in the comments section here, seriously. I clearly completely disagree w/most if not all of your assumptions and would like to get your input on some of Dr. Barnett's more provocative posts.

The US economy is ranked as the *most* competitive in the world by the WEF, over some real economic superpowers: Switzerland (they know how to make money and have a lot of cool stuff), Denmark (best filmmakers in the world), Germany (pretty industrious group), and Finland (had a scary smart Finnish dude for international trade -they ain't po). We have tons of talent, good rules, and natural resources. Good sports too. It's ultimately all about the Golden Rule, extreme leisure, and self-actualization. No?