The Looming Shadow - Corporate Pathology in the Recession and the Reality of 1977

The Looming Shadow - Corporate Pathology in the Recession and the Reality of 1977

In the late 1970s, Japan's rapid economic growth was coming to an end, and the impact of the first oil shock was still lingering. Soaring oil prices had taken a toll on the manufacturing sector, and the traditional model of mass production and mass consumption had come to a dead end, leaving the country facing stagflation, where prices rose and the economy went into recession at the same time. Inside companies, while lifetime employment and seniority systems guaranteed stability, they also led to rigidity and a loss of vitality on the shop floor. Management was unable to take effective measures to cope with declining sales and profits, and bureaucracy grew stronger as companies tended to maintain a conservative stance. This situation was pointed out as a "corporate pathology," a phenomenon that symbolized the stagnation of the era itself, not merely the problems of a single company. In society at that time, high prices and job insecurity hit people hard following the pollutio
n problem, and labor-management conflicts were intensifying. The article emphasized the reality that the contradictions that had been covered up during the period of rapid economic growth erupted in a flash during the recession, spreading like a disease that was eating away at organizations and society. It was also a vivid record of the anxiety and tension on the eve of the bubble era.