BOOKS

The Story of Japan's Ohmi Merchants

The Story of Japan's Ohmi Merchants

The Precept of Sanpo-yoshi

Suenaga Kunitoshi
Translated by Larry Greenberg

Japan Library series
Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture

Business & Economics

¥3,400 + tax

ISBN 9784866580579
210 mm x 148 mm / 178 pp. / March 2019

ISBN 9784866581026 (ePub)
ISBN 9784866580869 (PDF)

From its very origins, Ohmi was a highly developed region bordering Kyoto, the center of political power. For that reason, Ohmi is closely tied to the history of political, cultural, social and economic development in Kyoto, and therefore Japan as a whole.

Ancient Ohmi was first developed by immigrants from the Korean Peninsula and China and was a vital crossing point connecting Kyoto with eastern Japan. The intersection of the Nakasendo Road and the Tokaido Road was located within its borders. The vital traffic of people and goods led to the early development of organizations and individuals engaged in the concentrated delivery of vast quantities of products.

Ohmi merchants can be considered the very source of Japanese-style management. The key concepts that they developed underpinned the success of Japanese corporations for generations. These include core concepts such as sanpo-yoshi or “three-way satisfaction” and corporate social responsibility (CSR), considering a third-person perspective, being a member of society, a healthy tension with society, customer satisfaction, contribution to society, the social consciousness of “good for the world”, appropriate profits, avoid waste and give your all, the spirit of the peddler, faith and devotion, talent and innovation, leveraging information and investing in startup ventures.

Inspirational and practical, this book is full of useful ideas and methods that have helped Japanese corporations and individuals achieve success for generations. It is recommended for any student of business or anyone who wants to dig deep into the historical background that helped Japanese companies overcome adversity and achieve greatness.

 

SUENAGA Kunitoshi
Suenaga Kunitoshi was born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1943 and grew up in Saga Prefecture. After graduating from the Faculty of Economics at Doshisha University, he received his doctorate in economic research from the Graduate School of Economics at the same university. Holding the title Doctor of Economics, he served as a professor at the Faculty of Economics at Kyoto Sangyo University and went on to become a professor in the Faculty of Economics at Doshisha University. Currently, he is an emeritus professor at Doshisha University and the director of the Ohmi Merchant Local Museum (Foundation).

Specialties: Japanese Economic and Business History

Publications:-Kindai Ohmi shonin keieishi-ron [Business History of Ohmi Merchants in 19th-Century Japan], Yuhikaku Publishing, 1997-Ohmi shonin: Gendai o ikinuku bijinesu no shishin [The Ohmi Merchants: Business Indicators for Surviving the Present Age] Chuokoron-Shinsha, 2000-Nikkei Kanada imin no shakai-shi: Taiheiyo o watatta Ohmi shonin no matsuei-tachi [Settlement Process of Japanese Canadians: Descendants of Ohmi Merchants who Crossed the Pacific] Minerva Shobo, 2010-Ohmi shonin, sanpo-yoshi keiei ni manabu [Ohmi Merchants, Learning from Sanpo-yoshi Management], Minerva Shobo, 2011-Ohmi shonin to sanpo-yoshi: Gendai bijinesu ni ikiru chie [The Ohmi Merchants and Sanpoyoshi: Wisdom for Survival in Modern Business], Institute of Moralogy, 2014

Joint Publications: Henkakuki no shonin shihon: Ohmi shonin Chogin no kenkyu [Merchant Capital in Nineteenth-Century Japan: Research on Ohmi Merchant House Chogin], Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 1984

*information as of time of publication

Japan Library series
Business & Economics

Publisher:
Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture

Hardcover
¥3,400 + tax
ISBN 9784866580579
210 mm x 148 mm / 178 pp. / March 2019

eBook
ISBN 9784866581026 (ePub)
ISBN 9784866580869 (PDF)

CONTENTS
Preface to the English Edition
Preface: The History of the Ohmi Region and the Rise of the Ohmi Merchants
1. “Three-Way Satisfaction” and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
2. The Management Practices of Ohmi Merchants
3. Life History of the Entrepreneur Ito Chubei
4. Management Insights from the Ohmi Merchants
5. Contributing to Society through Anonymous Good Deeds
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
About the Author and About the Translator
Photo credits

"Kunitoshi Suenaga's 'The Story of Japan's Ohmi Merchants' sets out to demonstrate that the Ohmi management philosophy is not only unique, but also particularly relevant to modernday business. The book achieves both of these objectives, and serves as a valuable resource for scholars of business as well as general readers. It is at the same time the first book of its kind to introduce at length the Ohmi merchants in the English language."

Dylan Scudder
Sophia University
Contemporary Japan 33, no. 2

800年以上前に登場し、日本の商工業者の源流とされる近江商人。遠隔地への行商と出店を行った彼らの経営理念「売り手・買い手・世間の三方よし」は、企業に社会的責任(CSR)が求められる現代にこそ必要だ。近江商人に関する初の英訳書。

末永國紀
1943年(昭和18年)福岡県生まれ。佐賀県出身。同志社大学経済学部卒業。同大学院経済学研究科博士課程修了。経済学博士。京都産業大学経済学部教授を経て、同支社大学経済学部教授。現在、同志社大学名誉教授。(財)近江商人郷土館館長。

*著者略歴は書籍刊行時のものを表示しています。

Original Japanese Edition

近江商人学入門:CSRの源流「三方よし」改訂版

末永國紀 著

サンライズ出版 刊

2017/06/15

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