There are two major categories of trading companies in Japan: a "sogo shosha," which is a general or integrated trading company, and specialized trading companies that deal only in specific fields.
Among the sogo shosha are companies that were formed as a spin-off of the trading divisions of former zaibatsu groups, as well as those that started off as a specialized trading company but later expanded the fields that they dealt in and developed into a general trading company. The former type includes Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsui & Co. and Sumitomo Corporation, while the latter includes companies such as Itochu and Marubeni.
These sogo shosha are a unique type of business enterprise that is seen only in Japan. They supply raw materials and technologies purchased from around the world to steel, chemical and other manufacturing companies, whereupon those that were provided with such raw materials, etc., played the role of processing these materials and manufacturing them into products to be sold, and selling them in domestic and overseas markets. Sogo shosha was an engine that helped drive the high growth of the Japanese economy.
Sogo shosha had business and information bases in all corners of the world. Armed with vast funds and massive amounts of information, they dealt with any kind of business so long as they thought that profits could be generated. They had the vitality to advance into wide-ranging fields, from the development of resources - such as oil and scarce resources - to biotechnology and even IT. |
