【導(dǎo)讀】著很大的貿(mào)易赤字。盡管沒(méi)有出現(xiàn)下降趨勢(shì)，但越來(lái)越多的美國(guó)決策者及商務(wù)經(jīng)理已。經(jīng)開(kāi)始審查日本的貿(mào)易活動(dòng)。在這些人中，有一個(gè)很普遍的想法就是日本市場(chǎng)沒(méi)有對(duì)。美國(guó)產(chǎn)品開(kāi)放，相反，美國(guó)市場(chǎng)對(duì)日本的貿(mào)易是開(kāi)放的。制裁的威脅來(lái)反對(duì)日本產(chǎn)品。然而，這樣的措施也會(huì)產(chǎn)生適得其反的結(jié)果。最近Ginkota和Kotabe的調(diào)查表明：?jiǎn)为?dú)的貿(mào)易談判不會(huì)提高美國(guó)商品進(jìn)入。而對(duì)于提高美國(guó)公司進(jìn)入日本市場(chǎng)能力的一個(gè)行之有效的方法就是。研究日本近幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以來(lái)所采用的商業(yè)活動(dòng)。盡管進(jìn)入日本市場(chǎng)意義重大，然而對(duì)西方人而言，日本的經(jīng)銷(xiāo)體系經(jīng)常會(huì)被人誤。這種誤解源于日本復(fù)雜的分銷(xiāo)慣例特征。在嘗試美國(guó)貿(mào)易在日本市場(chǎng)成功獲利減少不必要的貿(mào)易?？谏?、零售商密切聯(lián)系的中間負(fù)責(zé)人。日本這種錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜的分銷(xiāo)渠道深深地根植于日本。根據(jù)shao和herbig的調(diào)查顯示，日本有超過(guò)8000家的貿(mào)。組織主宰了整個(gè)日本商品的生產(chǎn)和分銷(xiāo)行業(yè)。因此他將幫助日本零售商提供更多的流水線(xiàn)化的客戶(hù)服務(wù)。

　　

【正文】 has begun to relax the law regulating the growth of largescale retail stores. In the wake of the Strategic Impediments Initiative (SII) talks between the USA and Japan, Japan’s MITI agreed to limit the approval process for largestore applications to under 18 months and allowed the retailers to extend their store hours。 consequently, applications for the large stores soared by 50 per cent in the recent past. The continual relaxation of the largescale retail store law would present an opportunity nonJapanese firms to increase their leverage in the Japanese retail sector, as evidenced by the growing presence of Toys “R” Us in the Japanese toy market. Good ol’ boys distribution work called keiretsu Surprisingly, Onkvisit and Shaw recently observed that only 7 per cent of Japan’s manufactured goods were protected by the Japanese government, while 34 per cent of the products manufactured in the USA were protected by the US government. A number of US firms have reported their difficulty in cracking the Japanese market and their plaints focused on the strong local distribution work called “keiretsu” which is a significant market barrier. In general, keiretsu are referred to as a large group of related panies which share mon interests, mon banks, and typically, interlocking boards of directors and crossequity participation. Depending on their formation and principles, keiretsu are monly divided into two types: horizontal and vertical. The horizontal keiretsu are usually anized around a bank and consist of a variety of panies that perform different functions in diverse fields. Since the horizontal keiretsu resemble cartels in that they tend to restrict business interactions with nonkeiretsu anizations, they have been sharply criticized by many US business and political leaders. Unlike the US government, the Japanese government loosely enforced its antitrust laws, and consequently a number of Japanese firms such as Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Sumitomo, Sanwa, Daichi Kangyo, and Fuji, have successfully used the horizontal keiretsu system. Unlike the horizontal keiretsu, the vertical keiretsu are usually posed of a major industrial corporation and its suppliers or distributors/retailers in a particular industry such as automobiles and electronics. The vertical keiretsu can be further subdivided into supply keiretsu and distribution keiretsu. Supply keiretsu are groups of panies integrated along a supply chain dominated by a major manufacturer such as Toyota, Nissan, Toshiba, and Hitachi. In contrast to the supply keiretsu which have interlocking interests in their upstream suppliers, the distribution keiretsu develop the web of relationships with their downstream distributors and retail outlets. Since the distribution keiretsu tend to exclude nonkeiretsu panies (both foreign and domestic) from petition and tend to keep retail prices high for consumers through the retail price maintenance agreement, the distribution keiretsu may be the important cause of distribution inefficiency. Nevertheless, the Japanese traditional culture often values mutual trust and loyalty created by the distribution keiretsu (see Table I). Therefore, it is still an accepted form of business practice in Japan where a paternalistic business relationship developed by the distribution keiretsu precedes its economic inefficiency. Distribution keiretsu offer various managerial benefits for the participating members which include: Technology and information transfer Without the foundation for a stable, longterm, and cooperative relationship among the manufacturer, the wholesaler, and the retailer, the distribution keiretsu are doomed to failure. Accordingly, a close partnership is the cornerstone of distribution keiretsu. Such a partnership can only be established by mutual information and technology sharing through open munication among the keiretsu members. For example, Japanese manufacturers often supply advanced retail support involving puterized online data processing systems that provide retailers pointofsale (POS) information about consumer behaviour, per capital sales, and customer credit. Furthermore, some progressive Japanese firms have recently developed electronic ordering systems (EOS) with POS to supplement inventory, shorten delivery time, and reduce delivery errors. In fact, Milgrom and Roberts note that the keiretsu have proven to be extremely effective in responding to new market opportunities by transferring information and technology among the members. Financial risk sharing Through mutual share holding, distribution keiretsu encourage their members to not worry about hostile takeovers and subsequently focus on their longterm interests such as new product marketing and distribution. Also, many manufacturers traditionally provide their keiretsu members with several forms of financial assistance, such as credit extension, acceptance of promissory notes with deferred payments, discretionary rebates, and return privileges of unsold products at no cost. Such assistance will help the keiretsu members survive through tough financial times. Stable supply of the needed merchandise The keiretsu manufacturer can assure its downstream distributors and retailers a constant supply of the needed merchandise through exclusive dealings. Such merchandise often includes high quality brand name products that many Japanese consumers tend to favour over the unknown quality of obscure brand products. With the longterm stability and security guaranteed by the keiretsu system, the keiretsu manufacturer can bring its downstream distributors and retailers under its wing and thus assure longterm partnership with its members. That is to say, keiretsu member distributors and retailers are likely to adapt their delivery schedule to the requirements of their customers on a stable basis. Japanes