A Historic Study on the Governance and Conflict in Family Businesses: The History of Family Businesses in Japan and “The Battles of Founding Families toward the Recapture of Management”

“Founding family feuds,” in which the founding family and non-founding family (head family and branch family) fight over management rights, have attracted much attention recently, but actually similar battles occurred over 100 years ago. In the present study, we shall discuss the repeated struggles for leadership by founding families and non-founding families in the Yasuda zaibatsu, while examining the relevant literature of the time concerning such cases as infighting involving the leader of the Mitsui family in the mid-Edo period, and civil disturbance regarding the head manager at the Sogo kimono store in the Meiji era (the Harimaya incident). Moreover, by examining the characteristics of founding family feuds and countermeasures, including the unrest caused by the dismissal of the general managers from fraternal life insurance, it may be possible to obtain findings that are applicable to modern corporations.