Overview
2008 - 2009
The remarkable development of globalization in corporate activities, together with the integration of international capital markets, has brought substantial globalization and diversification to a country's economy and industrial structure. Recent researches in Japan and in many other countries clarified that global activities such as export or foreign direct investment are actually concentrated to a small group of firms. Moreover, a significant disparity in productivity and other measures of performance exists between these firms and those whose activities are restricted to the domestic market. Given its shrinking population, Japan will have to achieve high levels of productivity growth in order to remain on par with other advanced countries in terms of economic growth. It is widely recognized that promoting the globalization of corporate activities constitutes a critical policy issue in realizing this scenario. The purpose of this project is to clarify the mechanism through which the globalization of corporate activities contributes to economic growth and shapes economic and industrial structure into a more competitive state, and to derive policy recommendations based on the findings. The project will undertake a survey of the latest research results and will also involve theoretical and empirical analysis.
August 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009
