A Historical Study of the Internationalization of Japanese Retailers : Rethinking of the Cross Border Mechanism and the historical Evaluation

本研究的目的有三个：(1)对过去100年日本零售商的国际化提供一个广阔的视角；(2)在此信息的基础上阐明零售商的跨境机制；(3)为希望进入新兴市场的日本企业提供一些历史启示。日本零售商的国际化始于1906年，当时三越在keiju（韩国首尔）开了一家小商店。从那以后，在亚洲各地开设了22家百货商店。1958年，高岛屋在纽约开了一家店，标志着二战后零售业国际化的开始。截至2010年底，在海外开设了143家百货商店和429家超市。然而，60%的百货公司和74%的超市已经关闭，成功的案例很少。回顾过去的100年，我们可以很好地了解影响零售国际化成败的因素，其中最大的因素是门店物业管理（地点和租金）。因此，我们需要构建一个包含这一因素的新的零售国际化模式。近年来，许多日本消费品制造商通过发展大型专业连锁店进入新兴市场。我们的研究结果表明，为了在新兴市场取得成功，日本制造商必须考虑门店物业管理因素。

The purpose of this research is threefold : (1) to provide a broad view of the internationalization of Japanese retailers over the past 100 years, (2) to elucidate the cross-border mechanism of retailers on the basis of this information, and (3) to derive some historical implications of the findings for Japanese firms that wish to enter emerging markets.The internationalization of Japanese retailers began in 1906, when Mitsukoshi opened a small store in Keijou(Seoul Korea).Ever since, 22 department store outlets have opened across Asia. In 1958, Takashimaya opened a store in New York, marking the beginning of retail internationalization after World War II. By the end of 2010, 143 department store outlets and 429 supermarket outlets had opened overseas. However, 60% of the department stores and 74% of the supermarkets have already closed, and there are very few success cases.A review of the past 100 years gives a fair idea of the factors that influence the success or failure of retail internationalization, including the biggest one is the outlet property management (location and rent). Therefore, we need to build a new retail internationalization model that incorporates this factor.The recent years have witnessed many Japanese consumer manufactures entering emerging markets by developing large-scale specialty store chains. The findings of our research imply that Japanese manufacturers must consider the outlet property management factor in order to succeed in emerging markets.