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The longevity of enterprises has long been an important area of research for business historians and management scholars. Nevertheless, little research has been directed towards what enables some firms to survive in a declining industry. In this article, following the new entrepreneurial history approach, we focus on Nihonsakari, a Japanese sake brewer founded in 1889, in order to analyse the concrete processes that enabled it to survive as the sake industry declined since the 1970s. We argue that the core feature propelling its longevity was the persistent co-creation processes among stakeholders that made diversification possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss how multinational enterprises have historically managed global patenting and to what extent the localization of patent management has supported the expansion of these enterprises. This study focuses on the electric appliance industry (one of the first industries to see the emergence of global companies) and consider the case of Siemens, a German multinational company, comparing it to General Electric (GE), an American company. Design/methodology/approach: The work adopts a global business history approach. Taking GE's global patent-management model, described by Nishimura (2004, 2009, 2016), as the benchmark, this study analyzed Siemens' worldwide control of its intellectual property rights between 1890 and Second World War, using German, Japanese and American primary sources. Findings: Patent management is a common means for firms to globalize and transfer technology internationally, but it can take various forms. While GE transferred patent management to its foreign subsidiaries (a process known as localization), Siemens kept worldwide patent management at its headquarters – except in Japan, where in time it transferred this activity to a joint venture. The transfer of production called for localization of patent management while focusing on exporting to other markets made it possible to keep patent management at headquarters. Originality/value: Patents are usually a source for quantitative surveys. This paper uses them to discuss how multinational companies manage property rights globally. It is the first paper to address this issue by comparing two major actors in a similar industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between income inequality and the demand for high-end luxury wine. The consumption of luxury goods has experienced dramatic growth since 2000 but inequality has been neglected by scholars working on luxury consumption. The exploratory research focuses on wine demand between 2000 and 2019 and analyzes the impact of income inequality among other factors, including gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and GDP growth. The authors want to discern whether highly unequal countries import more expensive wine when compared to countries with lower inequality. Design/methodology/approach: The authors prepared different data sets based on the year and the trade value of each country to compare the differences and commonalities. The regression models incorporate particular foreign trade statistics (average unit price of wine) as an objective variable and the Gini coefficients to measure the relation between the demand for high-end luxury wines and inequality as an explanatory variable. The models also incorporate other control variables such as economic and institutional conditions. Findings: The analysis demonstrates a positive relationship between the unit price of imported wine and the level of income inequality of the importers. This research suggests that conspicuous consumption, as a means of social distinction, is a major driver of the luxury wine market. Other significant factors include GDP per capita and geographic proximity. However, countries with a high power distance and bad governance do not purchase more luxury wines than others. Hence, rather than the social acceptation of wealth and corruption, the consumption of luxury wines is driven by the levels of economic development and inequality. Originality/value: This paper is exploratory research that discusses an underexplored issue: the impact of income inequality on the consumption of luxury goods such as high-end luxury wines. It contributes to the literature on wine consumption, luxury business and income and wealth inequalities. These fields are rarely approached together and the research emphasizes the potential offered by such a perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the transformation of global brands between the 1880s and the early twenty-first century, through the example of the Swiss watch company Longines. It shows that the concept of 'global brand' changed over time and was related to the nature of the product. Until the 1970s, luxury was linked to precision. Manufacturers focused on the production of movements and adapted the design of end products to each market. Yet the paradigm shift brought about by electronics led to a new definition of luxury during the 1990s, a change which led to a new generation of global brands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the impact of country-of-origin labels on the global competitiveness of European industries during the second half of the twentieth century. It considers 'made-in' labels as institutional innovations and demonstrates their role in maintaining manufacturing activities in high-wage economies. To facilitate a more detailed inquiry into the topic, the paper uses a case study of the Swiss watch industry. Swiss watch companies began facing growing competition from American and Japanese firms, which had implemented mass-production methods and started relocating low value-added activities to East Asia, in the 1950s. In Switzerland, the issue was to keep the reputation of Swiss watches intact, foregrounding the high precision of the devices, and cutting production costs at the same time. Consequently, in 1971 the federal government adopted an ordinance that allowed watch companies to use the 'Swiss' name on their products as long as they kept certain activities in Switzerland. Due to the advent of electronic watches, however, the new provision could not safeguard the Swiss watch industry from a severe crisis between 1975 and 1985. Policymakers updated the 'Swiss Made' law and it was renewed in the early 1990s within a shifting context, one in which the Swiss watch industry repositioned itself toward luxury. The law became a powerful tool for regulating the luxury-watch industry. Through the example of the Swiss watch industry, the article emphasizes that understanding the impact of country-of-origin labels requires an examination of the broader context of innovation in specific industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electronics industry is often regarded by scholars as an example of a sector driven by endless technological innovation and major competition between a few large companies, thus embodying the common view whereby the free market leads firms to innovate. On the other hand, some business historians have also emphasised that, since the beginning of the twentieth century, most of these companies were engaged in various international cartel agreements. The business and economic history literature on this industry reveals a clear-cut divide between the inter-war years and the post-war era. In this paper, however, we argue that technical and commercial cooperation between large electronics companies continued in various forms despite the spread of anti-trust policies after 1945. In this case study, we explore the global X-ray equipment industry from its beginnings around 1900 to the advent of the CT scanner in the early 1970s. The paper focuses on Siemens and Philips, the two largest manufacturers of radiological equipment. It demonstrates that both companies pursued their commercial and technical cooperation at least until the 1970s, although it was much less overt as during the interwar years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the transformation of the Japanese consumer electronics industry since the late 1990s. Based on an analysis of the three largest watch companies (Seiko, Citizen, and Casio), it demonstrates that these firms shifted from technology-driven management to a new model focused on marketing (brand management and distribution) and upper-positioning targeting. The change has been only partial, however, as technological innovation remains the basis of branding and product development. This case study thus contributes to the discourse on the transformation of Japanese manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is the introduction to the special issue' Health Industries in the Twentieth Century'. It offers a broad literature review of scholarly works about the history of health and medicine, and stresses the opportunities for business historians to tackle the field of healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses hospitals as medical technology in itself and discusses the evolution of hospital design. As a case study, it focuses on Japan from 1918 to 1970. Hospital systems in this country experienced a major shift between the prewar and postwar periods. While the prewar period was characterised by the domination of numerous private small hospitals in urban areas, the postwar reconstruction was based on the extension of large public hospitals. This article demonstrates the major roles that architects played in introducing hospital designs in Japan and adapting the Western functional model for use in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarly works on rhetorical history have inspired the production of an extensive body of research on how firms use history. However, the existing research is based on the experience of firms in a handful of Western countries. Our mixed-methods paper examines the use of history by Japanese firms so that we can see how history is used in a very different institutional and cultural context. The paper operationalizes the comparative capitalism approach. For more than a century, Japanese firms have invested extensively in celebratory corporate histories called shashi. The paper is based on bibliometric and interview data as well as the close textual analysis of shashi from various decades. We show that until recently the main function of shashi was to inspire loyalty on the part of workers. We argue that the post-2000 decline in shashi production is primarily a function of profound changes in the nature of the Japanese variety of capitalism. The relation between the change in governance and the use of corporate history is revealed by the new style of consumer-focused shashi that has emerged since 2000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shopping centers are among the most significant places to sell luxury goods in East Asia. However, the relations between retail networks of luxury companies and access to land and real estate still need to be addressed. On the one hand, an extensive literature highlights how the turn to luxury industry since the 1990s has enabled some European countries to maintain their comparative advantage on the global market and at the same time to keep a significant part of their production non-globalized. Yet, an issue that remains to be addressed is the way European luxury companies are able to enter and expand their sales networks in emerging countries. On the other hand, while real estate has become a major economic circuit in East Asia, there is still a lack of research about the property industry and companies’ concrete strategies and business models. This article is hence an exploratory study that tackles the issue of real estate within the strategies of the main actors of the Swiss watch industry, namely Swatch Group, Richemont, and LVMH, which have massively invested in their retail network in China and East Asia since the 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article focuses on the development of the Japanese medical instrument industry from the 1880s to the beginning of the war against China (1937). It argues that the growth of this industry relied on the adaptation of Western technologies to the Japanese environment. The article focuses on the learning processes adopted by Japanese entrepreneurs, revealing a major difference between small enterprises, engaged in innovation based on reverse engineering and cooperation with medical doctors, on the one hand, and large firms which benefitted from organisational facilities acquired through international technology transfer and cooperation with domestic R&D centres, on the other hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article tackles the transformation of the European luxury business since the 1960s, through the examples of the French fashion industry and the Swiss watch business. It argues that emerging Asian markets, that is, Japan between the 1960s and the 1990s and subsequently China since 2000, have played a key role in this process as the major outlets. It examines the strategies adopted to access East Asia markets and how they were affected by the emergence of luxury multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the 1980s. While department stores were a gateway to Japanese market since the 1960s, they gradually lost their bargaining power when French and Swiss MNEs began to internalise distribution and to implement a global brand management strategy. This feature is also a major characteristic of the distribution of luxury goods in China, where MNEs are directly involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An applied business history approach offers particular insights into the lost competitiveness of the Japanese watch company Seiko and its causes. Although Seiko was the world's largest firm in the watch industry in the mid-1980s, the company experienced a huge decrease in sales during the next decade and became unable to compete effectively against Swiss watch companies that had repositioned themselves in luxury business. The focus on the evolution of global value chains (GVC) in the industry, which saw a shift from producer-driven GVC to buyer-driven GVC, highlights a major change in the 1990s. Seiko did not change its strategy despite this paradigm shift and has continued to run its foreign subsidiaries according to the producer-driven model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper focuses on the strategy adopted by the MNE Nestlé in Japan between the establishment of a branch at Yokohama in 1913 and the end of World War II. It highlights the difficulties encountered by the firm in its attempts to open up and operate production facilities due to strong opposition from local condensed milk makers, supported by the state. Eventually, in 1934, Nestlé opened a factory by founding an incorporated company, ARKK, all of whose shareholders were Japanese working for Nestlé. Although the war drastically curtailed the activities of both Nestlé Japan and ARKK, the organisational facilities set up during the inter-war period provided a springboard for Nestlé's post-war success in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a study of the sources of competitiveness for firms in the fashion and luxury goods industry. It focuses on Swatch Group, the world's biggest watch company, using a business history approach. Whereas most researchers give priority to marketing strategies when explaining the success of European luxury and fashion companies, this papers argues that production strategies also play a key role and must be taken into consideration. The detailed analysis of the sources for Swatch Group's competitiveness since its founding in 1983 makes it possible to highlight the importance of two main complementary strategies for supporting its growth: first, supply-chain management strategy (rationalization and globalization of production) to cut production costs; and second, rebranding strategy (shift to luxury and tradition). This case study shows that cost competition still matters in industries with high value-added and maintains that the product development strategy in this industry is more about marketing than product innovation, as product rebranding is more important than technical innovation per se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an business history for the Japanese enterprise Shimadzu Company from 1900 to 1960, focusing on its efforts to develop, manufacture, market, and distribute x-ray machines during the early twentieth century. Some of the subjects considered include the diffusion of technologies, technological innovations, organizational strategies, competition, and the development of transnational corporations. It also considers the privatized state of medicine and health care in Japan during the period.

Japanese doctors who studied abroad during the second half of the nineteenth century were instrumental in changing the health care system in their country. Between 1862 and 1912, no fewer than 763 Japanese doctors trained abroad in western universities. The prosopographic analysis conducted in this contribution underscores the strong appeal of German-speaking universities and the important role of medical studies undertaken abroad on a private basis. The Japanese doctors who trained in foreign countries fall into two categories of practitioners. First there was the country's medical elite, primarily trained at the University of Berlin, who upon their return obtained the most prestigious chairs in the country, including at the University of Tokyo. Second, there were a great many nameless practitioners. Their studies in western universities, which reflected a deeply utilitarian bent, were characterised by the priority given to clinical medicine. They worked in hospitals, clinics or private practice after they went back to Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

After the United States, Switzerland was one of the main sources of FDI to Japan in the twentieth century. Swiss multinationals that have invested there have three characteristics in common. First of all, they take a long-term perspective. The main companies present at the beginning of the twentieth century (Brown Boveri, Ciba, Nestle, Sandoz, Sulzer) were still some of the largest Swiss companies in Japan at the end of the century. Second, they gradually shifted from distribution to production during the inter-war period. Third, they backed Japan's industrialisation by strengthening historically underdeveloped sectors (chemicals) and by contributing to the growth of the manufacturing industry (machines). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]