Abstracts

This study examined factors affecting overall performance in Japanese trading conglomerates by analyzing the relationships among business environment, competitive strategy, organizational structure, and performance.

As in the previous literature, this research also found that a firm's performance is not determined by a single factor, but can be achieved through a combination of all elements such as strategy and organizational structure. However, contrary to our general understanding, one notable finding is that the environmental variables are not deemed as main obstacles for Japanese trading firms that hinder their overall performance. Although in the past, environmental uncertainty and complexity were regarded as a barrier that had to be overcome, they seem to be considered an essential prerequisite for Japanese trading conglomerates to attain their goals at present.

This study also investigated the competitive strategy which Japanese trading firms are pursuing at this moment. Against Porter's original approach, they can in some cases adopt more than one strategy at a time from the generic strategies. This implies that Japanese trading firms may not create and sustain competitive advantage with a single specific strategy in today's highly competitive business environment. For this reason, they mix two or more competitive strategies at once in order to respond against a highly competitive business environment.