japans-global-companies-thrive-but-economy-withers

JapanÆs global companies thrive but economy withers

One-sided globalisation and a lack of investment opportunities for foreign capital make the Japanese economy vulnerable to a downturn.

Dan Slater

November 21, 2008

An incongruous juxtaposition of events has arisen this week, with Japanese companies going on an international shopping spree on the one hand, and news that Japan has formally entered a recession on the other. Some commentators have assumed that the prowess of Japanese companies in acquiring foreign companies will mitigate the overall downturn at home. However, there is no logical link between the two.

The blame for this can be attributed partly to JapanÆs ambiguous relationship with globalisation. Japanese companies have successfully linked up with the outside world, but the Japanese economy is closed in the other direction. Inward foreign direct investment, imports and immigration all show little, or even negative, change over the years....

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North Asia