• Eiji Unakami Graduate School of Economics, The University of Tokyo

• Sawako Shirahase TCJS Director

General Trading Company(GTC) is a Japanese diversified business group evolving in Meiji Japan Economic growth and preserving significance in the Reiwa Japan Economic scene. The researcher’s interest is to find indications for its future by researching its history. This case study compares the risk management of Mitsui Bussan, the first and biggest GTC before WWII, and Furukawa Shoji which was collapsed soon after its foundation. Value at Risk, a contemporary risk management tool is used for quantitative comparison in addition to a qualitative one. This research suggests that the superiority/inferiority of risk management shown in their value at risk draws the line between survivor and failure.

Eiji Unakami is a Ph.D. student in Economic History, at the University of Tokyo, focusing on risk management, business model, and social impact of Japanese General Trading Company(GTC). He is concurrently working at Mitsubishi Corporation (MC), a GTC, and has decades of experience in the risk management area, including the secretary of the investment committee.