The future of Japan's energy and environmental policies
This is the fifth and final article in a series of reports about Japan's energy policy. In the first four parts of this series, I mainly outlined the current state and challenges facing the supply side of energy. But reflecting the growing popularity of the ...
Will there be progress in the switch to a low-carbon society?
This is the fourth in a series of reports on Japan's energy policy. A searing heat wave in Europe, along with a severe drought in India and heavy rainstorms in Kyushu. These highlight the worry over how severe the problems of climate change have become. ...
Is there a future for nuclear power in Japan?
This is the third in a series of reports on Japan's energy policy. Nuclear power has been considered quite beneficial in every aspect of the so-called 3E's (energy security, economy and environment) of energy policy. But the damage from nuclear accidents can be catastrophic, in addition ...
Building toward large-scale use of renewable energy in Japan
The Paris agreement has accelerated worldwide momentum for strengthening global warming countermeasures. As most greenhouse gas emissions come from energy consumption, key measures to check global warming are saving energy through efficient use and transitioning to low carbon energy. For example, better fuel efficiency would ...
Japan's energy policies at a critical juncture
Japan's energy policies are at a big turning point. Due to the unforeseeable future of the energy business, utility companies have yet to embark on drastic reform. Despite the fact that irreversible, inevitable and diverse social change is underway simultaneously, the government has been ...
Sōgō shōsha: Adapting to stay ahead as industries evolve
The sōgō shōsha's longevity, up until this point, can to a certain extent be attributed to their adeptness in being able to rapidly acclimate themselves to the changes in the business and economic environment over the years. By moving quickly and being flexible, the ...
Global challenges lie ahead as sōgō shōsha hunt for growth
While many global companies, including the sōgō shōsha, face similar political, economic, social, technological, managerial and other risks — much too many to cover here — Japan's nearly complete dependence on natural resource and raw material imports from overseas and its shrinking domestic market ...
Diversification, integration and the roles of trader and investor
There are some who have explained, in somewhat academic terms, the sōgō shōsha's upstream-downstream integration process by dividing it into two concepts: "diversification" and "integration." Weight of nontrading roles Simply, what is occurring is the business divisions' units are applying and combining such nontrading functions as ...
Adapting to new industries, bolstering world's infrastructure
The ability of the sōgō shōsha to survive through all the changes and transformations that have taken place over the years can, in many ways, be attributed to their adeptness in recognizing the rise of new industries early on and creating new businesses in ...
How the lifelines of the economy feed and fuel Japan
Given Japan's low food self-sufficiency ratio and dearth of energy resources, the sōgō shōsha have acted as a lifeline to Japan's economy through the import of foodstuffs and energy resources. However, the sōgō shōsha's involvement goes far beyond just importation. Here, I would like to ...
Sōgō shōsha: Understanding Japan's super suppliers and distributors
As mentioned before, the sōgō shōsha have two fundamental business models: Their traditional, core business model as trader, supplier, wholesaler and distributor of a vast array of goods and materials upstream and downstream in the supply or value chain, and as an organizer of ...
Tracing Japan's business giants from the late '80s to the 2000s
In the mid-1980s Japan was considered the most dynamic economy in the world and its manufacturers the most dominant. Japan's GDP growth had averaged around 7 percent per annum for the previous 30 years even with a slight downturn following the first oil shock ...
