This article is from WeChat public account:Positive Solutions (ID:zhengjieclub), original title: “Japan’s secret weapon to attack the world: intelligence Ability to exceed CIA, instant noodle missiles are all-in-one, title map from: Oriental IC
In the world of free capitalism, Japan’s integrated trading companies have taken advantage of the advantages of the planned economy by virtue of their superior industrial chain integration capabilities.
The Japanese economy can dominate the world. Some people say that they rely on technology. Some people rely on education. Some people say that they rely on craftsmanship…
But few people have noticed that Japan has a unique type of business: a comprehensive trading company.
From instant noodles to missiles, everything can be done; from commodity trading to entertainment and sightseeing, everything can be done. The integrated trading company is Japan’s powerful secret weapon.
1. Formerly a trading company, Hyundai is a comprehensive company
The history of Japanese general trading companies is long.
The development of several large integrated trading companies dates back to the end of the 19th century and evolved roughly along two routes. One is based on Mitsui and Mitsubishi Corporation, starting from Sumitomo Trading Co., Ltd., which is a small company that operates a variety of products and services; the other is along Itochu, Marubeni, Dongmian, Hsong, and Nissho Iwai The development of Japanese cotton and other major lines has changed from a professional trading company to a comprehensive trading company.
After the Second World War, the Japanese economy took off, and the comprehensive trading company took on the responsibility of a trading company to import resources, import and export products, and open up overseas markets. It became an important leading force in the rapid development of Japan’s economy after World War II. Successfully developed a new business model.
If you want to know how strong the Japanese integrated trading company is, only know the strength of the two giants Mitsui and Mitsubishi.
Founded in 1876, Mitsui is the first comprehensive trading company in Japan. Initially started with import and export trade, the export products are mainly coal, and the imported products are mainly cotton and textile machines. In 1911, before the First World War, Mitsui’s import and export volume accounted for 27% of Japan’s total trade, raw silk accounted for 27%, coal accounted for 40%, cotton yarn accounted for 51%, and raw cotton imports accounted for 51%. Imports of machinery, vehicles and other manufactured goods. Accounted for 38%.
(Major trade company in Japan before World War II)
Mitsui General Trading Co., Ltd. experienced a restructuring in 2016, and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. was transformed from “Resource No.1” to explore non-resource areas. Among the Fortune Global 500 in 2019, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ranked 89th with a profit of US$3,735,900,000 and ranked second among the nine major trading companies.
The top-ranked Mitsubishi Corporation had revenues of $145,243,300,000 in 2019, making it the second-ranked company in Japan in the 2019 wealth rankings. Mitsubishi Corporation is a forward-looking person who pursues balanced and comprehensive development. The trading company from mining, paper,Electrical, mechanical, elderly care, chemistry, energy to real estate, environment, fiber and other industries, from raw material producers, product manufacturers to sales agents, retail and other stages, master the industry flow to the downstream business flow, leading the industry development of.
(Mitsubishi Corporation)
Like Mitsui, Mitsubishi Corporation’s current strategic goal is to shift to investments that are less affected by changes in resource prices.
2. Play multiple functions throughout the entire industry chain
The biggest difference between an integrated trading company and a manufacturing company and a financial company is its strong strength and all-encompassing functions.
Traditional organization production, entrepot trade, financial investment, transportation and custody, technology transfer, market research and other functions are naturally not to mention. Next, let us look at the comprehensive business community’s several unique efforts.
First of all, the trading company is a sharp-eyed intelligence agency.
One of the secrets of a comprehensive trading company that can be unfavorable around the world is collecting, organizing, and processing all kinds of information extensively and quickly. Especially in the current informationization, the ability to process information quickly is particularly important.
In the case of ITOCHU Corporation, it is a large computer center in Yokohama that can deliver up to 30 pages of Japanese newspapers in 10-20 seconds. At present, ITOCHU Corporation’s daily telex is as high as 25,000 copies and faxes are as high as 9,000 copies. There are countless international calls, and it is said that the amount of information exceeds that of the US CIA.
(ITOCHU Corporation)
In 1973, when the world was shocked by the Middle East oil crisis, the news of oil price increases, only the Japanese comprehensive trading company had already known it, and began to actively seek trade cooperation with the Middle East oil countries.
With the “Dongfeng” of this crisis, Japan’s oil trade in the Middle East, with the two major trading companies, Marubeni and Mitsui, has grown rapidly. In the past few years, the share of Middle East oil in Japan’s total imports has risen from 10% to 30%.
Japan has always been short of oil, and imported oil is not only used for use, but also used for storage. According to the Petroleum Strategic Reserve Requirements published by the International Energy Agency’s (IEA), the national oil security reserve should be equivalent to 90 days of domestic consumption. As early as 20 years ago, Japan’s private oil reserves have reached 85 days of consumption, which is mainly due to the business community. Together with 10 national oil reserve bases, 91 days of consumption are reserved.
(Japan Strategic Petroleum Reserve)
That is to say, even if all the imported oil channels in Japan are cut off, their reserves can support the consumption of the country for nearly half a year. The comprehensive trading company has made great contributions to Japan’s national security.
Second, the trading company is the actuarial organization of smart investment.
Comprehensive trading companies use a wide range of business advantages to make extensive investments overseas. according toAccording to statistics, each Japanese general trading company has an average of 90-120 branches or offices and offices abroad. Wei Jie, deputy general manager of Mitsui & Co., Ltd., said:
Today we have just released a big energy project. This project is in cooperation with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Mitsubishi Corporation in Indonesia, each holding 25% of the shares. Japan’s largest energy projects in the world are the two of us.
The trading company always exchanges the smallest investment for the biggest income, and the “senior shareholders” who live apart. Bai Yimin, who has worked in Mitsui & Co., Ltd. for 12 years, pointed out:
The trading company fosters companies associated with trading companies, but the shareholding may be only 10%. It believes that after the company is supported and strengthened, the transaction volume with the trading company will increase.
For example, a Japanese company with a 10% stake in Mitsubishi Corporation has: Japan Synthetic (10.1%), Japanese ham (12.2%), Okamura Manufacturing Institute (11.8%), Pacific Metal (11.4%), etc.
Third, the trading company is an expert in the storage of the industrial chain.
The comprehensive trading company is particularly good at integrating the industrial chain, using the combined forces of upstream and downstream to formulate a long-term and stable strategy to accurately grasp every link of the economic chain.
For upstream companies, trading companies can start from the production materials for their conservation. Taking the refining industry as an example, in order to provide sufficient supply to upstream enterprises, commercial social special investment is engaged in oilfield exploration. The integrated trading company will also take the initiative to share the sales risks for the production companies.
For example, the business community regularly submits bulk orders to production companies based on all aspects of information collected, and agrees on appropriate prices. After the two parties sign the supply contract, the risks brought by the price fluctuations in the market are shared by the comprehensive trading company and the production enterprise.
Similarly, for downstream retail companies, trading companies also share risks with sales companies in a reciprocal or shareholding manner. Such as the largest shareholder of the convenience storeIt is the Itochu trading company, with a shareholding ratio of 50.11%.
(Business revenue of major Japanese trading companies in 2017)
On the surface, the comprehensive trading company takes risks, but the superb industrial chain integration ability reduces the risk of the trading company and earns the maximum profit.
3. The pioneer of the consortium
If the Japanese consortium is an army, then the comprehensive trading company is a pioneer.
The Japanese consortium consists of three parts: the financial system, the comprehensive trading company and the industry. The financial system is the capital base of the group. It mainly acts as a financing and gathers financial resources. The industry is like an implementer, turning financial resources into physical objects.
The integrated trading company is like a market-savvy nose, judging where there is money, and deciding where to invest the money to get the most benefit.
As a beacon – the investment ratio of integrated trading companies is generally 9-10 times, that is, the 100 million funds of the trading company can bring about 1 billion total investment.
(The structure of the Japanese consortium)
The Japanese general trading company has almost monopolized the entire Japanese market and controlledMost of the distribution channels, and then form a closed market circulation system.
At the peak of the development of Japan’s nine major trading companies in 1974, its trading volume accounted for 32% of Japan’s gross national product.
So, Japan’s domestic economic market has strong stability and strong anti-risk ability.
In terms of overseas expansion, the import and export volume of the nine major comprehensive trading companies accounted for 50% of Japan’s total import and export volume. It has strong foreign trade strength and made great contributions to Japan’s overseas expansion.
Looking at the global economy, integrated trading companies optimize the allocation of world resources. In the 1994 ranking of the world’s largest trading company in the “Happiness” magazine, the nine major trading companies monopolized the top nine. As a carrier of global economic mobility, trading companies play the role of optimizing the allocation of resources such as manpower, material resources and financial resources, and comprehensive trading companies are the mainstay among trading companies.
In 2013, Fortune 500 ranked 12 companies in the trade industry, among which Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Marubeni, Itochu and Sumitomo belonged to the general trading company; in 2019, the five comprehensive trading companies ranked differently. The degree of increase.
(2013 Fortune 500 list (part))
The strength of the Japanese general trading company is strong and it has survived the test of time.
4. The power of the “planned economy”
In recent years, the price of iron ore has risen, which is a disaster for Chinese steel companies; Japanese steel companies with huge iron ore demand are not worried at all.
This is because, In the main producing areas of iron ore – Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, the Japanese integrated trading company represented by Mitsui & Co., Ltd. directly or indirectly owns a large number of shares in the subway ore enterprises.Share.
In the introduction of Mitsui official website:
In 2003, the company acquired the world’s largest iron ore producer and seller vale (formerly known as Vale) company’s parent company valepar company 15 % of the shares, and has continued to expand the iron ore business with Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. The iron ore holding production based on the equity ratio of Mitsui & Co., Ltd. has jumped to the fourth place in the world, and the annual mining interest has exceeded 40 million tons.
The price of iron ore increased, and the purchaser Nippon Steel took the initiative to accept higher prices each time, but because of the Nippon Steel related party Mitsui property (The comprehensive trading company of Mitsui Foundation) The resources of the upstream of the iron ore, the entire Mitsui consortium has gained greater benefits.
In other words, Japanese steel companies pay more, and Japanese integrated trading companies have earned back the price of iron ore by virtue of shares. Just like putting the money in the left pocket into the right pocket, Japan does not lose money overall!
In the face of today’s resource wars, the trading company not only does not lose, but also earns enough to prove the power of the special economic entity of the integrated trading company.
This power, the integrated trading company gives the Japanese economy a “planned economy”.
In particular, the integrated trading company is not only the downstream of the underwriting, but also the provider of raw materials, and has the strength to integrate resources to help Japanese companies to maximize their competitiveness. Toyota’s “zero inventory”, which is relished by people, is also based on this.
“Planning the economy” should be our masterpiece.
This article is from WeChat public account:Positive Solutions (ID:zhengjieclub), original title: “Japan Attack The world’s secret weapon: intelligence capabilities exceed CIA, instant noodle missiles are all-in-one