Since Japan Inc took a major body blow in 1990, the remains of the Japanesezaibatsu the large conglomerates assembled over decades, centuries, even, out of the interests of ancient Samurai families and former sake vendors have been on the ropes.
If that scenario pans out, it will mean an end to ways of doing business that date back to the early part of this century, when Japanese companies were grouped as zaibatsu (the precursors of today's keiretsu) and backed by the government.
In this context, then, it is interesting to watch the evolution of Panasonic, the heritor brand of Matsushita, a venerable name that never quite reached the status of zaibatsu or keiretsu (another type of Japanese conglomerate), but still narrowly missed being broken up in the industrial reforms that took place in post-World War II Japan.