Baillie Gifford
“ Spend as little time as possible in Tokyo to get a more rounded view of what ’ s happening in the Japanese economy ”
Praveen Kumar Manager of the investment trust Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon
investors as well . Therein lies our opportunity .”
The building blocks of corporate Japan
Unlike Germany ’ s Mittelstand , Japan ’ s SME sector doesn ’ t have a “ nice catchy name ” by which it ’ s known to the world . Still , to Kumar , they are “ the building blocks of corporate Japan ”, just as they are in Germany . In both countries SMEs thrived in the post-Second World War era by supplying the needs of massive ‘ national champions ’ in industrial sectors such as steel and cars . That was Japan ’ s second wave of industrialisation and innovation , following its initial 19th century modernisation . Now , Kumar reckons we are living through a third wave of innovation , which is less about the big physical products and the consumer electronics associated with the international brands such as Sony , Toshiba and Toyota . Instead ,
Issue 93 - March 2023 / 19 /