Flexibility and diversity: the putting-out system in the silk fablic industry of Kiryu, Japan

Masaki Nakabayashi

No 06-10, Discussion Papers in Economics and Business from Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics

Abstract: We have seen many cases where the factory system emerges and realizes higher productivity in the process of industrialization. However, also seen in history is that other types of production organization have kept expanding and have reached at some high performance. For instance, the putting-out system rather than the factory system has sometimes been chosen in the fabric industry, where the flexibility of production and the variety of products are especially important to respond to the fashion. This type of production organization has prospered even during the industrialization since the 19th century, supported by the development of some modern technologies such as synthetic dyes. This study inquires a case of the silk fabric industry in Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. In Kiryu, the traditional silk textile industry developed in the Tokugawa era, and the industry even grew more under the putting-out system during the industrialization in Japan since the late 19th century, because the putting-out system with synthetic dying was the optimal combination to realize the variety of products required in the mass consumption in the industrial society.

Keywords: multitask Governance of trades; Putting-out system; Industrial district; Japanese textile industry; Repeated game. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L14 L67 N95 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2006-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-his and nep-sea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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