11. Conclusion: German Corporate Expansion and the Path to European Integration—Germany’s Development Based on Complementary Relationships in European Markets

How are capitalism and business management in Germany, a European nation, to be understood from the perspective of Japan, an Asian nation? Drawing on the previous chapters, the present chapter uniquely addresses this question from the perspective of a Japanese researcher. Post WWII, both Germany and Japan developed their enterprises and economies by deploying and adapting US technology and management methods, becoming major trading countries. However, current economic and business conditions greatly differ between Germany and Japan. In the trade sector, America continues to strongly influence Japanese business operations. However, Japan could not and cannot establish a complementary relationship with American industrial sectors and products in the American market. Exacerbating matters, unlike the European Union, Asia has no common market structure. In contrast, Germany has developed independent of American influence and become part of a well-integrated regional economy. This chapter explains the origins of these differences, and how the transformation of German business management in the 1950s and 1960s underpinned the formation of today’s European Union. This section also suggests viewpoints for analyses on current problems affecting Germany’s role and possible initiatives in the European debt crisis.