Co-operation and competition in the rise of the Japanese cotton spinning industry, 1890–1926

Abstract

This study examines competition and co-operation in the modern Japanese cotton spinning industry through analysing the practice of production curtailments implemented by the Japan Spinners Association. These temporary cutbacks of output became common after 1900. Through a long process of trial and error, they gradually achieved a complex blend of cooperation and competition. Contrary to critics' views, the curtailments served a constructive purpose in providing stability to an industry vulnerable to abrupt swings in the world prices of raw cotton and of yarn. As a strategy devised to meet specific challenges at a particular time, the curtailments became central to the Japanese cotton spinning industry and provided a precedent for aspects of Japan's industrial policies later on.