The Great East Japan Earthquake and Its Impact on German Firms: An Empirical Study
Oct 2013 · Springer Science & Business Media
3.0star
1 reviewreport
Ebook
52
Pages
reportRatings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More
About this ebook
This publication sheds light on how Japan-based German firms dealt with the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred in March 2011. To gather data, a questionnaire was developed and sent out in April 2012 to 244 German subsidiaries based in the Kanto area, mainly in Tokyo, with replies received from the top managers of 84 firms. In addition, the author conducted follow-up interviews with top managers of 14 of those firms in Tokyo to illuminate interesting aspects of the responses given in the questionnaires. It is shown that the overall impact on the performance of German firms was comparatively low. Those firms have now returned to normal operation and face relatively few disaster-related problems. However, firms with higher autonomy more frequently moved their offices either to the Kansai area, including Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto, or at least temporarily closed down. In retrospect, the interviews made clear that relocating or suspending operations was a costly mistake. In contrast to transaction cost theory, which states that subsidiaries should be given high autonomy in such cases of emergency, it would have been better for the headquarters offices to have communicated more intensively with the management of their subsidiaries.
Ratings and reviews
3.0
1 review
About the author
Dr. Ralf Bebenroth, born in Germany, is a tenured Professor for Business at Kobe University. After being awarded twice with a two year post doctoral fellowship to Japan, one from DAAD and the other from Humboldt foundation, he started working at Kobe University in 2005. Ralf Bebenroth spent the first five years of his academic career at Kobe University conducting research about business and economics solely in Japanese language.
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
