Strategic decision-making in Japanese trading companies: case studies of information search activities

The paper describes an investigation into the information search activities of senior Japanese decision-making in Japanese trading companies. The research task was conducted over a twelve-month period between 2000-2001, at five well-known Japanese kaisha (see Appendix 1 for a list of Japanese expressions used in this paper) headquartered in Tokyo. This paper identifies sources of information that are developed and used by executive decision-makers in evaluating strategic alternatives. As well modes of access to the identified sources are highlighted and analysed.