The Japanese firm and its diversity

While institutional theory has tended to ignore the diversity of firms within national models of capitalism, recent change in the Japanese model of capitalism has been associated with a growing diversity of corporate governance practices. The article builds on previous empirical results to propose an empirical mapping of corporate governance practices in Japan using a cluster analysis of a large sample of Japanese firms in 2002. Alongside the traditional Japanese pattern, the empirical results show that two new 'hybrid' models of corporate governance have emerged characterized by different linkages between corporate ownership and finance, board practices, and employment patterns. These changes reflect both a loosening of past institutional constraints related to main bank finance and growing responsiveness to diverse organizational and sector-level contingencies.