The Contest for Japan's Economic Future: Entrepreneurs vs Corporate Giants Richard Katz

 

The Contest for Japan's Economic Future: Entrepreneurs vs Corporate Giants
Richard Katz

4.33
33 ratings3 reviews

Just as a wave of entrepreneurship created Japan's postwar "economic miracle," so it will take a new generation of entrepreneurs to revive its stagnant economy. A complex distribution system dominated by the incumbents has made it hard for newcomers even to get their products on store shelves.

Fortunately, major social changes are now opening new opportunities. Generational changes in attitudes about work and gender relations are leading more and more talented people to the new companies. This includes ambitious women who are regularly denied promotions at traditional companies. The rise of e-commerce is enabling tens of thousands of newcomers to bypass the traditional distribution system and sell their products to millions of customers. Three decades of low growth have convinced many within both the elites and the public of the need for change.

Still, progress remains an uphill climb because of resistance by powerful forces. Bank financing remains quite difficult. For example, the system of "lifetime employment" has made it very hard to newcomers to recruit the staff they need. Banks, who are often in the same sprawling conglomerates as the corporate giants, are still loath to lend to new companies. While parts of the government try to promote more startups, other parts resist making the needed changes in regulations, taxes, and budgets.

Japan's economic future will be determined by the contest detailed in this book.

GenresJapanEconomicsNonfictionBusiness



356 pages, Hardcover

Published December 27, 2023
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Product description

Review

"Richard Katz, who knows Japan's economy and society inside and out, offers a book full of careful analysis and bold recommendations. It is a precious wake up call to a Japan that sometimes acts like a frog that stays in boiling water." -- Heizo Takenaka, Former Japanese Minister for Financial Services and former Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy

"For years, Japan has sorely needed to unleash the sort of creative energy that made it an economic superstar in the postwar decades. This highly original book provides evidence that digital technology, new generational attitudes, improving gender equality, and international inspirations are converging with demographic pressures and emerging government support in ways that create the possibility of a new burst of entrepreneurial vigor." -- Bill Emmott, Former Editor-in-Chief, The Economist

"Richard Katz looks beyond Japan's institutional rigidities, complacency, and aversion to risk to explore important new 'megatrends' that hold the possibility of a rebirth of the entrepreneurial spirit that fueled postwar Japan's economic miracle. Hopeful, insightful, and written with verve, The Contest for Japan's Economic Future deserves to be read by anyone concerned about Japan's future trajectory." -- Gerald Curtis, Columbia University

"Richard Katz provides a fresh, up-to-date analysis of an important topic that has bewitched two generations of scholars. While many have proposed that the solution to Japan's economic problems lies in reforming the big incumbents, Katz argues that generating a host of new companies is at least as indispensable." -- Zoltan Acs, George Mason University

"This important new book challenges the conventional thinking that Japan is doomed to suffer from a paucity of entrepreneurship. Rather, its penetrating analysis of significant contemporary developments provides a compelling case for an entrepreneurial renaissance in Japan." -- David Audretsch, Author of Creating Competitiveness: Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policies for Growth

"Katz's deep research-much of it informed by interviews with young entrepreneurs-is brimming with ideas to resurrect the reform process." -- William Pesek, Forbes Asia

"This new book by economist Richard Katz presents a comprehensive theory for why the Japanese economy has been in the doldrums for decades, and what Japan can do to revitalize itself." -- Japan Intercultural Consulting

"How Kishida's disappearing Japanese premiership is a gift ... Richard Katz writes in his new book The Contest for Japan's Economic Future" -- William Pesek, South China Morning Post

"Richard Katz, author of the recently published The Contest for Japan's Economic Future, argues that the fact Japanese stock prices are once again flying high "does not mean that Japan is back". Productivity in Japan has fallen behind that in other advanced economies and there is a need for a "better balance in the country's corporate structure between giants and entrepreneurs with fresh ideas", Katz said at a recent talk at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan. Japan has the lowest share of entrepreneurs among some 25 leading countries, said Katz, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. More damningly, perhaps, he added that corporate Japan is "stuck in the analogue era", rather than graduating to the digital maturity others have achieved." -- Anthony Rowley, Macroscope

"Richard Katz... provides an indispensable reality check about the state of Japan's economy in The Contest for Japan's Economic Future, challenging some of the hype that has surrounded the latest boom in Japan's stock markets... Institutional change in an advanced industrial democracy is extraordinarily hard, and it is unlikely to follow a linear path. But Katz has done a service in showing how Japan has already begun to change, what its political and business leaders could do to promote additional reforms, and what Japan has to gain from embracing a new model of capitalism." -- Tobias Harris, Observing Japan

"Katz, former adjunct professor at the NYU business school, is my longtime guide through the thicket of Japanese economics. His first book, Japan: The System that Soured (1998), is one of the best explanations of why the country's economy went off the rails. This newest work builds on that analysis and offers compelling suggestions on how to fix it." -- Brad Glosserman, Japan Times

"The Contest for Japan's Economic Future offers a well-researched, comprehensive examination of Japan's economic challenges and potential solutions. Katz's work provides a balanced view, acknowledging both the obstacles and opportunities facing Japan's economy, and presents a compelling case for fostering entrepreneurship as a key to revitalizing the country's economic fortunes." -- Sungsoo An, LinkedIn

"This work is highly recommended for students of international business and political science, especially those interested in how government policy influences economic revitalization....Highly recommended." -- Choice

"Richard Katz has produced another beautifully written and persuasively-argued book on Japan's political economy.... The Contest for Japan's Economic Future is a must read for anybody who wants to make sense of Japan's contemporary political economy and this nation's prospects ofemerging from stagnation and moving onto a higher trajectory of growth and innovation." -- Japan Forum

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Richard Katz is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics In International Affairs, as well as a Special Correspondent for Weekly Toyo Keizai. The Contest For Japan's Economic Future is his third book and, like his first two, will also be published in Japanese. 

His two previous books were 

• Japan: The System That Soured--The Rise and Fall of the Japanese Economic Miracle (1998) and 
• Japanese Phoenix: The Long Road to Economic Revival (2003). 

For two decades, he published a monthly newsletter on Japan called "The Oriental Economist Report." Now he publishes a free blog called "Japan Economy Watch." 

His essays and opeds have been published in Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and The International Economy. He's testified several times to Congressional committees. He also taught about Japan's economy as an adjunct lecturer at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and at New York University. He received his M.A. in Economics from New York University in 1996

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press USA

Publication date ‏ : ‎ 26 February 2024

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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews

RYAN PHAM

465 reviews

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December 19, 2025

Dust jacket hardcover

This book covers:

The Retooling of Japanese economy during the so called lost decade

Shinzo Abe and his 3 arrows. It talks about how he followed through with monetary policy but not fiscal policy (which was previously wasted ơn infrastructure but never really spent for universal education) or structural reform (which was avoided like the plague despite him having a 2/3 majority)

Women managers are not named Kacho (manager) often in elephant firms, so they flee tô gazelle firms. They are divorcing more for individualistic reasons Im a generational shift, because it is more acceptable to act ơn these desires now.

The vertical Keiretsu is a major blockage tô gazelle growth. Sometimes, it’s easier for a gazelle to succeed as part of a Keiretsu rather than independently

PE were called vulture firms in Japan, but still extract value from SMEs, instead of the SMEs just closing down

Gazelles would invest more in R&D but Japan favors tax credits instead of an R&D Subsidy, which ends up benefitting thể elephants.

Gazelles are also charged higher interest rates in comparison to the elephants. Entrepreneurs are discouraged from starting their own companies because of the onerous business and personal bankruptcy laws that discourage the talented from taking the leap.

Elephants dominate the Japanese economy and are favored by policy

Bank of Japan’s holding of Japanese Government bonds at 0% interest

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From other countries

Stephen

5.0 out of 5 stars Learned a lot of deep incites

Reviewed in Japan on 28 December 2025

Format: KindleVerified Purchase

Every Japanese voter should read this excellent political and generational analysis of the lost decades, written over several years with love and passion for Japan.

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Laura Chasen

5.0 out of 5 stars In and Out of Stagnation – An Elegant Read

Reviewed in the United States on 4 February 2024

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I’m reviewing this book to recommend it to people who have an interest in Japan or in how to spur dynamism and productivity growth in any economy but who, like me, aren’t experts on Japan (I assume the Japan experts are all reading it anyway).

I won’t elaborate on the content but note that the reader will learn much adjacent to the central focus of the book, which is how Japan got into and can get out of its economic doldrums. One will learn surprisingly much about modern Japanese history, about basic macroeconomics, about business finance and management. (Katz, an economist, has not written a technical book; it is replete with charts but these largely add support to points made clearly in the text and needn’t interrupt the reading.)

Katz obviously likes Japan – a lot – having spent his professional career on and in the country, and so is genuinely interested in finding solutions rather than sniping about a perpetually stagnant, crimped Japan (he dispels the stereotype of this being the country’s inevitable, culturally-determined fate). But he shows what can go wrong in a once dynamic economy – detailing a slew of bad policies by the entrenched government and corporate bureaucracies holding back the entrepreneurial “gazelles” – before proposing concrete, doable remedies, albeit ones he shows have yet to be launched at needed scale and earnestness.

So the book is in part a cautionary tale for what goes wrong when the state favors and tries to preserve uncompetitive legacy big corporate players along with unproductive legacy small jobs and entities, when it tries statist central planning, though Katz doesn’t put it in these terms.

It comes down to the importance of the government and society allowing enough freedom for creative destruction to do its thing (a term Katz does use), and what happens if they don’t. So the book may pleasantly surprise free-market enthusiasts. His remedies are generally more on the order of government-must-get-out-of-the-way and government, and banks, must act fairly – stop preferencing the big old guys and let opportunity flower – than they are of proposing that the state must do a better job at industrial policy and managing private commerce.

What Katz describes and explains with depth and clarity, backed up by truly impressive scholarship, is so generalizable beyond Japan that I think the book is not only a brilliant read for entrepreneurs everywhere – and of course government officials, too, and as I say above, the general reader as well – but would serve especially anyone studying business management. I’d also add: Katz is an elegant writer, the reading flows.

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S. Elliott

5.0 out of 5 stars Just read the superb eBook as fast as I could and now want to read it again slowly

Reviewed in the United States on 16 December 2023

Format: KindleVerified Purchase

I worked in Japan for almost a decade after 3 years at a leading Japanese bank in the US, having already worked as a banker in 3 other countries besides my native US. My serious interest in Japan goes back to the late 70s when I returned from 3 years working and studying in Germany. It includes a Japanese wife, studying Japanese deeply, and three sons, the older two well into their careers.

That said, this book is one of the best, most comprehensive I can recall and more up-to-date. I will amend this review when I have had more time to digest this superb book.

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Timothy Connor

5.0 out of 5 stars Required enjoyable reading about the Japanese economy and socio political environment

Reviewed in Japan on 8 April 2024

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

For anyone interested in understanding the Japanese economy, inside and out, Richard Katz new book is a must read.

Katz shows why many of the aspects of the Japanese economy that present as immutable traditional are really just outcomes from other social issues. Lifetime employment was more a response to labor unrest than long range planning for example. He shows why Japan fell into the doldrums in the 90s and why the economy has been unable to regain its previous vitality, and how preservation of "zombie companies" is one of the biggest barriers.

From his concept of "destructive preservation" he lays out clear steps and measures that Japan can take now to revive the entrepreneurialism that gave rise to the "economic miracle" after the war. Katz covers the socio-political environment as both backdrop and impetus for change that must be made, from strengthening the social safety net to looking to the Nordic countries for ideas on income security rather than specific job security (jobs become obsolete...) Outstanding book that I was sorry to finish it was so enjoyable.

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Rochelle Kopp

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-researched and supported, with compelling conclusions

Reviewed in the United States on 30 December 2023

Format: KindleVerified Purchase

I've been a management consultant working with Japanese businesses for the past 30 years so have seen close-up the challenges which are written about in this book.

This book ties together a lot of very important themes in Japan's economic and political structure and their nexus with issues of how Japanese firms are managed and the strategic challenges they are facing.

A lot less is being written on Japan's economy and business lately so it's really great to see something as thorough and illuminating as this come out.

Highly recommend!

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M

2.0 out of 5 stars Uses too much out of date data

Reviewed in Japan on 22 November 2024

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

No real insight or anything new or outside the current consensus view. Uses a lot of dated information and statistics (eg a 1992 German study regarding startups in Deutschmarks). Cites several studies more than a decade old.

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JK

3.0 out of 5 stars Not worth reading 300 pages

Reviewed in the United States on 26 March 2026

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

boring and repetitive.

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John Roos
2 reviews1 follower

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March 6, 2025
As a former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, I have witnessed firsthand the dynamic interplay between Japan’s entrepreneurial ventures and its established corporate giants. “The Contest for Japan’s Economic Future: Entrepreneurs vs Corporate Giants” offers a compelling analysis of this relationship, shedding light on the challenges and opportunities within Japan’s evolving economic landscape. The book provides valuable insights into how innovation and tradition coexist and compete, shaping the nation’s path forward. It’s an essential read for anyone seeking to understand the forces driving Japan’s economy today.


Boris
69 reviews3 followers

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August 31, 2024
During my stay in Japan, I found the workings of the economy to be elusive. Despite what my professors taught me, some aspects just didn’t add up. This book provided the clarity I was missing, offering insights that go far beyond the romanticized view of the Japanese economy. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in understanding how Japan’s economy developed, grew, and ultimately faced stagnation over the past three decades. The book also covers interesting solutions to make the Japanese market competitive again.




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