Survey_Yoshimori_1995

Abstract

The pluralistic approach assumes that the firm belongs to all the stakeholders, with the employees' interests taking precedence. This is the concept spec- ific to Japan which manifests itself in the form of long-term employment for employees and long-term trading relations among various other stakeholders (the main bank, major suppliers, subcontractors, dis- tributors), loosely called Keiretsu. This three-part categorization is supported by the results of a mail survey undertaken by the author with managers and executives in the five countries under review (see the Note at the end of the article for details of the survey). The shareholder-centred Anglo-Amer- ican outlook starkly contrasts with the employee-cen- tred Japanese perspective, with Germany and France in between but significantly more oriented towards 'shareholder value' than Japan. The findings on Japan are consistent with the results of other studies. For instance, a survey carried out in 1990 by Nippon Kei- zai Shimbun on 104 employees of large corporations showed a majority of 80% replying that the company belongs to its employees. 70% beliew.~d that the com- pany exists for the benefit of society as a whole. The concept that the firm is the property of shareholders ranked third with 67%.