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‘From Noodles to Satellites’: The Changing Geography of the Japanese Sogo Shosha
Author(s) -
Dicken Peter,
Miyamachi Yoshihiro
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
transactions of the institute of british geographers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.196
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1475-5661
pISSN - 0020-2754
DOI - 10.1111/j.0020-2754.1998.00055.x
Subject(s) - stereotype (uml) , economic geography , period (music) , geography , economy , economics , computer science , aesthetics , philosophy , software engineering
The need for a less occidental approach to understanding organizational‐geographical change is increasingly accepted. However, there is a danger of replacing one stereotype with others drawn simplistically from alternative capitalisms. In this paper we use the Japanese general trading company ‐ the sogo shosha ‐ as an example. We show how their city‐based, international networks evolved over a long period of time and, through a detailed case study of the sogo shosha in Europe, how their organization and behaviour need carefully to be interpreted.