CIRJE-F-345 | ""Voice" and "Exit" in Japanese Firms during the Second World War: Sanpo Revisited" |
Author Name | Okazaki, Tetsuji |
Date | June 2005 |
Full Paper | PDF file@ |
Remarks | Revised version of CIRJE-F-243 (2003), subsequently published in Economic History Review, May2006, Vol. 59 Issue 2, p374-395, 22p. |
Abstract |
During the Second World War, the Japanese government and private sector
searched for and implemented new mechanisms for coordination and motivation. One
of these was sangyo hokokukai (sanpo). Sanpo unit was basically an organization of
the employer and employees of each firm, which held meetings to moderate labor
relations. Due to the government policy to promote sanpo units, around 70% of the total
workers in Japan were organized into sanpo units in the early 1940s. As the members
of labor unions and the workers of the companies which had factory committees, were
only 7 % and 5% of the total workers in 1936 respectively, sanpo was the first large scale
mechanism for Japanese employees to voice. In this paper, I examined the role of
sanpo, using prefecture level data and firm level data, based on a framework
integrating the "voice view" of unionism and the transaction cost economics. It was
found that sanpo reduced the participation rate in labor disputes, and enhanced labor
productivity at least in some period. |