{"id":3402,"date":"2026-05-27T15:30:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T06:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kanai.net\/weblog\/?p=3402"},"modified":"2026-05-27T15:56:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T06:56:59","slug":"why-japanese-companies-do-so-many-different-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kanai.net\/weblog\/2026\/05\/why-japanese-companies-do-so-many-different-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Japanese companies do so many different things"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Very i<a href=\"https:\/\/davidoks.blog\/p\/why-japanese-companies-do-so-many\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/davidoks.blog\/p\/why-japanese-companies-do-so-many\">nteresting post from David Oks<\/a> on how big Japanese conglomerates are quite different from conglomerates in other countries.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>So why are Japanese companies like this? Why do they do so many different things? And how do they manage to do so all those different things&nbsp;<em>so well<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is the answer I want to suggest:&nbsp;<em>Japanese companies excel in lots of very different domains because it\u2019s inherent in how they\u2019re structured<\/em>. The form of the corporation that we know and love in the United States\u2014specialized, market-oriented, governed by shareholders\u2014is just one form that the corporation can take; but it\u2019s not the&nbsp;<em>only<\/em>&nbsp;way to coordinate capital and labor in a successful and profitable way.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>also the part on electrostatic chucks was something I didnt know about as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;Toto has been producing a very particular component called the electrostatic chuck, or the \u201ce-chuck.\u201d The e-chuck is a sort of high-precision ceramic plate, about the size of a steering wheel, that uses electrostatic force to hold a silicon wafer perfectly flat and thermally stable while memory chips are etched into it with bombardments of plasma. Making these components is extraordinarily difficult, since the ceramic body needs to have near-zero particle generation and be polished to submicron flatness: and this means that there are only a few companies in the world that are capable of manufacturing e-chucks reliably. <strong>Almost all of them\u2014Shinko Electric, NGK, Toto, Kyocera, Sumitomo Osaka Cement, Niterra\u2014are based in Japan.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, a funny related Onion article: <a href=\"https:\/\/theonion.com\/yamaha-ceo-pleased-with-current-production-of-jet-skis-1819570984\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/theonion.com\/yamaha-ceo-pleased-with-current-production-of-jet-skis-1819570984\/\">Yamaha CEO Pleased With Current Production Of Jet Skis, Alto Saxophones, Snowmobiles, Power Generators, Scooters, Golf Carts<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Very interesting post from David Oks on how big Japanese conglomerates are quite different from conglomerates in other countries. So why are Japanese companies like this? Why do they do so many different things? And how do they manage to do so all those different things&nbsp;so well? Here is the answer I want to suggest:&nbsp;Japanese [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-japan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kanai.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kanai.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kanai.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanai.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanai.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kanai.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kanai.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanai.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kanai.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}