Japan's Small and Medium Enterprises: Past, Present and Future

摘要

According to 1994 business statistics, 99.1 percent of a total of 6,531,980 business establishments in Japan were small and medium-sized with fewer than 300 workers (less than 100 for wholesalers and under 50 for retailers and service trades). Only 0.9 percent were large establishments. Some of those medium and small establishments were owned by large enterprises, but even if they are excluded, the number of small and medium establishments was still overwhelming. Classified by sector, wholesaling, retailing and restaurants accounted for the greatest number of small and medium establishments (2.89 million), followed by service trades (1.64 million) and manufacturing (820,000). In all three of these sectors, virtually all business establishments weresmall and medium-sized: 99.3 percent, 97.9 percent and 99.4 percent, respectively. Of a total of 54 million people employed by business establishments in Japan in 1994, 42 million or 78 percent were in small and medium establishments. The largest number(17.15 million) were in wholesaling, retailing and restaurants, followed by manufacturing (13.31 million) and service trades (12.29 million). In terms of the number of employees, small and medium establishments accounted for 83.9 percent in wholesaling,retailing and restaurants, 73.2 percent in manufacturing, and 62.9 percent in service trades.