The risk-sharing role of Japanese keiretsu business groups: evidence from restructuring in the 1990s

One of the most commonly cited motives for the keiretsu business groups is risk sharing. This paper examines the restructuring of the keiretsu groups over the 1990s along four dimensions: size, diversification, monitoring, and resource shifting. Most data patterns are consistent with a risk-sharing motive. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.