IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/eti/polidp/20003.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Structural Changes in Japanese SMEs: Business Dynamism in Aging Society and Inter-Firm Transaction Network

Author

Listed:
  • Gee Hee HONG
  • ITO Arata
  • SAITO Yukiko
  • Thi-Ngoc Anh NGUYEN

Abstract

Smooth business succession is vital not only to the survival of a firm, but also to aggregate growth, employment and productivity in Japan. In this paper, we use a rich dataset of Japanese firms to document the changing patterns of firm exits in the context of the aging population and assess the economic costs of business succession issues. We find that the overall health of Japanese firms improved in recent years, with bankruptcy rate and the ratio of zombie firms both decreasing. However, the voluntary exit rate of firms, including profitable ones, has increased in recent years as elderly CEOs cannot find business successors. This has resulted in a deterioration of resource allocation and productivity at the aggregate level. Furthermore, voluntary exits have spillover effects through inter-firm networks and increase the likelihood of exits of connected firms, even when these connected firms are healthy. These findings underscore the importance of addressing business transition issues in a rapidly aging society.

Suggested Citation

  • Gee Hee HONG & ITO Arata & SAITO Yukiko & Thi-Ngoc Anh NGUYEN, 2020. "Structural Changes in Japanese SMEs: Business Dynamism in Aging Society and Inter-Firm Transaction Network," Policy Discussion Papers 20003, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    • Handle: RePEc:eti:polidp:20003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/pdp/20p003.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steven J. Davis & John Haltiwanger & Ron Jarmin & Javier Miranda, 2007. "Volatility and Dispersion in Business Growth Rates: Publicly Traded versus Privately Held Firms," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2006, Volume 21, pages 107-180, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Ricardo J. Caballero & Takeo Hoshi & Anil K. Kashyap, 2008. "Zombie Lending and Depressed Restructuring in Japan," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1943-1977, December.
    3. Vasco M. Carvalho, 2014. "From Micro to Macro via Production Networks," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(4), pages 23-48, Fall.
    4. Shin‐ichi Fukuda & Jun‐ichi Nakamura, 2011. "Why Did ‘Zombie’ Firms Recover in Japan?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34, pages 1124-1137, July.
    5. Vasco M Carvalho & Makoto Nirei & Yukiko U Saito & Alireza Tahbaz-Salehi, 0. "Supply Chain Disruptions: Evidence from the Great East Japan Earthquake," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 136(2), pages 1255-1321.
    6. OGURA Yoshiaki & OKUI Ryo & SAITO Yukiko, 2015. "Network-motivated Lending Decisions," Discussion papers 15057, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    7. Vasco M. Carvalho, 2014. "From Micro to Macro via Production Networks," Working Papers 793, Barcelona School of Economics.
    8. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Peter J. Klenow, 2014. "The Life Cycle of Plants in India and Mexico," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(3), pages 1035-1084.
    9. Fatih Karahan & Benjamin Pugsley & Aysegül Sahin, 2019. "Demographic Origins of the Startup Deficit," Working Papers 19-21, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    10. Yukiko Saito & Makoto Nirei & Vasco Carvalho, 2014. "Supply Chain Disruptions: Evidence from Great East Japan Earthquake," 2014 Meeting Papers 595, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. World Bank & International Monetary Fund, 2017. "Financial Sector Assessment," World Bank Publications - Reports 26016, The World Bank Group.
    12. Ryan Niladri Banerjee & Boris Hofmann, 2018. "The rise of zombie firms: causes and consequences," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, September.
    13. Gee Hee HONG & OGURA Yoshiaki & SAITO Yukiko, 2019. "Structural Change in Firm Dynamics: From Inter-Firm Network and Geospatial Perspectives," Policy Discussion Papers 19031, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    14. Prantl, Susanne, 2003. "Bankruptcy and Voluntary Liquidation: Evidence for New Firms in East and West Germany after Unification," ZEW Discussion Papers 03-72, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    15. Müge Adalet McGowan & Dan Andrews & Valentine Millot & Thorsten BeckManaging Editor, 2018. "The walking dead? Zombie firms and productivity performance in OECD countries," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 33(96), pages 685-736.
    16. Imai, Kentaro, 2016. "A panel study of zombie SMEs in Japan: Identification, borrowing and investment behavior," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 91-107.
    17. Goto, Yasuo & Wilbur, Scott, 2019. "Unfinished business: Zombie firms among SME in Japan’s lost decades," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 105-112.
    18. Sofie Balcaen & Sophie Manigart & Jozefien Buyze & Hubert Ooghe, 2012. "Firm exit after distress: differentiating between bankruptcy, voluntary liquidation and M&A," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 949-975, November.
    19. FUJII Daisuke & SAITO Yukiko & SENGA Tatsuro, 2017. "The Dynamics of Inter-firm Networks and Firm Growth," Discussion papers 17110, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    20. A. Bhattacharjee & C. Higson & S. Holly & P. Kattuman, 2009. "Macroeconomic Instability and Business Exit: Determinants of Failures and Acquisitions of UK Firms," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 76(301), pages 108-131, February.
    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. Miyakawa, Daisuke & Oikawa, Koki & Ueda, Kozo, 2021. "Firm Exit during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    2. FUKUGAWA Nobuya, 2022. "Effects of the Quality of Science and Innovation on Venture Finance: Evidence from University Spinoffs in Japan," Discussion papers 22006, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    3. Masayuki Morikawa, 2023. "Productivity and wages of firms using COVID‐19‐related support policies," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 104(3), pages 202-213, May.
    4. MIYAKAWA Daisuke & OIKAWA Koki & UEDA Kozo, 2022. "Misallocation under the Shadow of Death," Discussion papers 22014, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    5. Morikawa, Masayuki, 2021. "Productivity of firms using relief policies during the COVID-19 crisis," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    6. MOTOHASHI Kazuyuki, 2021. "Productivity of Firms Using Relief Policies During the COVID-19 Crisis," Policy Discussion Papers 21006, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

    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. Gee Hee HONG & ITO Arata & NGUYEN Thi Ngoc Anh & SAITO Yukiko, 2022. "Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Create More Zombie Firms in Japan?," Discussion papers 22072, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    2. Leire San-Jose & Sara Urionabarrenetxea & Jose-Domingo García-Merino, 2022. "Zombie firms and corporate governance: What room for maneuver do companies have to avoid becoming zombies?," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 835-862, April.
    3. Peydró, José-Luis & Jiménez, Gabriel & Kenan, Huremovic & Moral-Benito, Enrique & Vega-Redondo, Fernando, 2020. "Production and financial networks in interplay: Crisis evidence from supplier-customer and credit registers," CEPR Discussion Papers 15277, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Mundt, Philipp, 2021. "The formation of input–output architecture: Evidence from the European Union," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 89-104.
    5. Hoshi, Takeo & Kawaguchi, Daiji & Ueda, Kenichi, 2023. "Zombies, again? The COVID-19 business support programs in Japan," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    6. Nurmi, Satu & Vanhala, Juuso & Virén, Matti, 2022. "Are zombies for real? Evidence from zombie dynamics," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    7. Annalisa Marini & Steve McCorriston, 2017. "Propagation of Commodity Market Shocks," Discussion Papers 1708, University of Exeter, Department of Economics.
    8. Jennifer La'O & Alireza Tahbaz‐Salehi, 2022. "Optimal Monetary Policy in Production Networks," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(3), pages 1295-1336, May.
    9. Marian Nehrebecki, 2023. "Zombification in Poland in particular during COVID-19 pandemic and low interest rates," Bank i Kredyt, Narodowy Bank Polski, vol. 54(2), pages 153-190.
    10. Stefan Borsky & Martin Jury, 2020. "The role of global supply chains in the transmission of weather induced production shocks," Graz Economics Papers 2020-13, University of Graz, Department of Economics.
    11. Goto, Yasuo & Wilbur, Scott, 2019. "Unfinished business: Zombie firms among SME in Japan’s lost decades," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 105-112.
    12. Feng, Ling & Lang, Henan & Pei, Tingting, 2022. "Zombie firms and corporate savings: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 551-564.
    13. Mingarelli, Luca & Ravanetti, Beatrice & Shakir, Tamarah & Wendelborn, Jonas, 2022. "Dawn of the (half) dead: the twisted world of zombie identification," Working Paper Series 2743, European Central Bank.
    14. Peng XU, 2019. "Exit of Small Businesses: Differentiating between Insolvency, Voluntary Closures and M&A," Discussion papers 19051, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    15. Kotone Yamada & Yukio Minoura & Jouchi Nakajima & Tomoyuki Yagi, 2023. "Corporate Finance Facility and Resource Allocation: Research Trends and Developments during the Spread of COVID-19," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 23-E-1, Bank of Japan.
    16. NISHIOKA Shuichiro & OKUBO Toshihiro & TANAKA Mari, 2021. "Regional Banking and Plant Survival in Japan," Discussion papers 21021, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    17. Vasco M. Carvalho & Alireza Tahbaz-Salehi, 2019. "Production Networks: A Primer," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 635-663, August.
    18. Shaozhen Han & Guoming Li & Michel Lubrano & Zhou Xun, 2020. "Lie of the Weak: Inconsistent Corporate Social Responsibility Activities of Chinese Zombie Firms," AMSE Working Papers 2001, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    19. Thomas J. Sargent & John Stachurski, 2022. "Economic Networks: Theory and Computation," Papers 2203.11972, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2022.
    20. Erik Frohm & Vanessa Gunnella, 2021. "Spillovers in global production networks," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 663-680, August.

    More about this item

    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:eti:polidp:20003. 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: TANIMOTO, Toko (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rietijp.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.