IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/wpaper/41659.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Hand looms, power looms, and changing production organizations: the case of the Kiryu weaving district in the early 20th century Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Hashino, Tomoko
  • Otsuka, Keijiro

Abstract

This study finds that the development process of the Kiryu silk weaving district in Japan from 1895 to 1930 can be divided at least into the two phases, i.e., Smithian growth based on the inter-firm division of labor using hand looms and Schumpeterian development based on factory system using power looms. Weaving manufacturers-cum-contractors led Smithian growth by organizing sub-contracts with out-weavers in rural villages and grew faster than factory production systems. Newly emerged joint stock firms played a role of genuine entrepreneurs by realizing significant scale economies. During this new phase, weaving manufacturers-cum-contractors survived and also introduced new production system.

Suggested Citation

  • Hashino, Tomoko & Otsuka, Keijiro, 2012. "Hand looms, power looms, and changing production organizations: the case of the Kiryu weaving district in the early 20th century Japan," Economic History Working Papers 41659, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:wpaper:41659
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/41659/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. ARIMOTO Yutaka & NAKAJIMA Kentaro & OKAZAKI Tetsuji, 2010. "Agglomeration or Selection? The Case of the Japanese Silk-reeling Industry, 1909-1916," Discussion papers 10003, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    2. Minami, Ryoshin, 1977. "Mechanical Power in the Industrialization of Japan," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 37(4), pages 935-958, December.
    3. Parker,William Nelson, 1984. "Europe, America, and the Wider World," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521274807.
    4. Minami, Ryoshin & Makino, Fumio, 1983. "Conditions for Technological Diffusion : Case of Power Looms," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 23(2), pages 1-20, February.
    5. Jones, S. R. H., 1987. "Technology, Transaction Costs, and the Transition to Factory Production in the British Silk Industry, 1700–1870," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(1), pages 71-96, March.
    6. Jones, Geoffrey & Zeitlin, Jonathan, 2009. "The Oxford Handbook of Business History," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199573950.
    7. Tetsushi Sonobe & Keijiro Otsuka, 2014. "Cluster-Based Industrial Development," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-38511-6, December.
    8. Tomoko Hashino & Takafumi Kurosawa, 2011. "Beyond Marshallian Agglomeration Economies: The Roles of the Local Trade Association in a Meiji Japan Weaving District (1868-1912)," Discussion Papers 1113, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University.
    9. Stephen Broadberry & Andrew Marrison, 2002. "External economies of scale in the Lancashire cotton industry, 1900–1950[Without im]," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 55(1), pages 51-77, February.
    10. George J. Stigler, 1951. "The Division of Labor is Limited by the Extent of the Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(3), pages 185-185.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tomoko Hashino & Keijiro Otsuka, 2013. "Hand looms, power looms, and changing production organizations: the case of the Kiryū weaving district in early twentieth-century Japan," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 66(3), pages 785-804, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tomoko Hashino & Keijiro Otsuka, 2011. "From Smithian Growth to Schumpeterian Development: An Inquiry into the Development of the Kiryu Weaving District in the Early 20th Century Japan," Discussion Papers 1121, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University.
    2. Tomoko Hashino & Keijiro Otsuka, 2013. "Hand looms, power looms, and changing production organizations: the case of the Kiryū weaving district in early twentieth-century Japan," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 66(3), pages 785-804, August.
    3. Hashino, Tomoko & Otsuka, Keijiro, 2013. "Cluster-based industrial development in contemporary developing countries and modern Japanese economic history," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 19-32.
    4. Tomoko Hashino & Keijiro Otsuka, 2013. "Expansion and Transformation of the Export-Oriented Silk Weaving District: The Case of Fukui in Japan from 1890 to 1919," Discussion Papers 1303, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University.
    5. Keijiro Otsuka & Tetsushi Sonobe, 2011. "A Cluster-Based Industrial Development Policy for Low-Income Countries," GRIPS Discussion Papers 11-09, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
    6. Tomoko HASHINO, 2021. "From Lyon to Kyoto: Modernization of a Traditional Silk-Weaving District in Japan, 1887–1929," Discussion Papers 2122, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University.
    7. Tetsushi Sonobe & Keijiro Otsuka, 2012. "The Role of Training in Fostering Cluster-Based Micro and Small Enterprises Development," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-099, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Otsuka, Keijiro & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2012. "The Role of Training in Fostering Cluster-Based Micro and Small Enterprises Development," WIDER Working Paper Series 099, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2012-99 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Tetsushi Sonobe & Yuki Higuchi & Keijiro Otsuka, 2012. "Productivity Growth and Job Creation in the Development Process of Industrial Clusters," GRIPS Discussion Papers 11-22, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
    11. Tetsushi Sonobe & Keijiro Otsuka, 2012. "The Role of Training in Fostering Cluster-Based MSE Development," GRIPS Discussion Papers 12-14, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
    12. Fleisher, Belton & Hu, Dinghuan & McGuire, William & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2010. "The evolution of an industrial cluster in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 456-469, September.
    13. Tomoko Hashino & Keijiro Otsuka, 2015. "The Rise and Fall of Industrialization and Changing Labor Intensity: The Case of Export-Oriented Silk Weaving District in Modern Japan," Discussion Papers 1501, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University.
    14. Krickx, Guido A., 1995. "Vertical integration in the computer mainframe industry: A transaction cost interpretation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 75-91, January.
    15. Manning, Stephan, 2017. "The rise of project network organizations: Building core teams and flexible partner pools for interorganizational projects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1399-1415.
    16. Duranton, Gilles & Jayet, Hubert, 2011. "Is the division of labour limited by the extent of the market? Evidence from French cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 56-71, January.
    17. Rosemary Mnongya, "undated". "Performance Evaluation Of Industrial Clustering In Tanzania," Review of Socio - Economic Perspectives 202071, Reviewsep.
    18. Eloi Laurent & Jacques Le Cacheux, 2006. "Integrity and Efficiency in the EU: The Case against the European economic constitution," Working Papers hal-00972707, HAL.
    19. Girum Abebe & Tetsushi Sonobe, 2012. "Management Practices, Self-Selection into Management Training Participation, and Training Effects in the Garment Industry in Ethiopia," GRIPS Discussion Papers 11-23, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
    20. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2012-21 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Klaus Friesenbichler, 2013. "Firm Growth in Conflict Countries: Some Evidence from South Asia," Review of Economics & Finance, Better Advances Press, Canada, vol. 3, pages 33-44, May.
    22. Berliant, Marcus & Reed III, Robert R. & Wang, Ping, 2006. "Knowledge exchange, matching, and agglomeration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 69-95, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    industrial district; production organizations; weaving industry; 20th century Japan; economic development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N95 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Asia including Middle East

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:wpaper:41659. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager on behalf of EH Dept. (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/chlseuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.