Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are not a new phenomenon in Japanese business. Especially after the end of the Allied occupation of Japan, the number of domestic M&As rose sharply due to the reconsolidation of former Zaibatsu firms broken up by the occupation authorities. During the Japanese...

After the burst of the "bubble" economy and the subsequent recession of the 1990's, a new era of M&A started in Japan. Following the deregulation in a number of non-tradable sectors, a relatively large number of foreign firms have entered the Japanese market, using M&As as a tool for market...

In recent years, the pattern of M&As in Japan has changed significantly. Increasingly, managers and owners of Japanese firms seem to have realized that there are efficiency benefits with M&As, and that there exist strategic dimensions in doing M&As. Almost on a daily basis, newspapers report on...