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Continuity and Change in the Employment and Promotion of Japanese White-Collar Employees: The Case of the House of Mitsui

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2015

Makoto Kasuya
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Abstract

Lifetime employment is one of the most conspicuous features of contemporary large Japanese corporations. The employment practices of merchant houses in the Edo period (1603–1868) are sometimes proposed as one origin of such lifetime commitment. Little attention has been paid, however, to the connections between long-term employment in the Edo period and its practice in the twentieth century. This article examines how Edo employment practices were adapted to the environment of the early twentieth century within a new context of modern educational institutions and the need for professional managers.

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Articles
Information
Enterprise & Society , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , June 2005 , pp. 224 - 253
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2005. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Business History Conference. All rights reserved.

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