DISTRIBUTION IN JAPAN.

DISTRIBUTION IN JAPAN. Edited by Yoshiro Miwa, Kiyohiko G. Nishimura and J. Mark Ramseyer. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. 2002. viii, 212 pp. (Tables, figures.) [pounds sterling]45.00, cloth. ISBN 0-19-9248907.

This book is an updated English version of the Japanese original published in 1991. It is a first-rate product by several Japanese economists with a clear objective, which is to use sound economic principles to set straight the longstanding disputes and stereotyped misconceptions regarding the Japanese distribution industry. Americans tend to denounce any deviations from their practices as opaque and downright unfair. Such deviations are naturally more common in distribution than in manufacturing. America's bulging trade deficits with Japan since the 1980s gave ammunition to the American attacks on Japanese distribution. The verdict given by the authors of this book is that the Japanese practices have been as rational economically as their American counterparts. I sense their righteous indignation between the lines. I hope the book will receive a wide audience abroad and help contribute to a more sensible and rational understanding of the trade issues.

Unlike a typical economists' treatise, this book is immensely readable and even enjoyable. The authors downplay economics and focus instead on the empirics. The book is rich in relevant and easy-to-understand statistics, and the economic reasoning accompanying the statistics is short but helpful. After a compact overview and historical background of Japanese distribution in chapters 1 and 2, the book takes up several key sectors and studies them closely (apparel in chapter 3, household appliances in chapter 4, imported automobiles in chapter 5, general retail business in chapter 6, rice and other farm products in chapter 7, and information technology in daily necessities and processed foods in chapter 8.) A brief conclusion completes the book.

Traditional economic theory has focused its attention on production and consumption, while basically ignoring distribution. However, if production is an activity aimed at transforming resources into forms suitable for consumption, distribution, which aims at combining products with a package of services catered to consumers, is essentially a form of production. The difference between production and distribution is more in appearance than in substance. Moreover, economic theory until recently operated on the premise of perfect information. However, information management both within and between firms carries much greater weight in distribution than in production. The rising importance of distribution in economic activities thus calls for an integration of distribution into economic theory, with due respect for the economics of information and quality. Again, this book provides a good starting point for such an endeavour.

KEIZO NAGATANI University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences, Kobe, Japan