What is Keiretsu?
A '''keiretsu''' is a group of businesses that work together. There are keiretsu in [[Japan]].<ref name=SJ>{{cite web|url=https://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/keiretsu.htm|publisher=San Jose State University|accessdate=May 28, 2021|title=The Keiretsu of Japan|archive-date=May 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507064654/https://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/keiretsu.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=HBR>{{cite web|url=https://hbr.org/2013/09/the-new-improved-keiretsu|publisher=Harvard Business Review|accessdate=May 28, 2021|year=2013|title=The New, Improved Keiretsu|author1= Katsuki Aoki |author2=Thomas Taro Lennerfors }}</ref><ref name=Sun>{{cite news|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1991-12-31-1991365151-story.html|publisher=Baltimore Evening Sun|accessdate=May 28, 2021|title=A new word for U.S. firms: keiretsu|date=December 31, 1991}}</ref> ==Structure== The companies in the keiretsu each own [[share|shares]] of each other's [[stock]]. Sometimes, there is a bank at the middle of a keiretsu.<ref name=SJ /> These are called horizontal keiretsu.<ref name=HBR /> Keiretsu can also have some companies that make supplies that other companies in the keiretsu need. These are called vertical keiretsu.<ref name=HBR /> Not all countries allow keiretsu. For example, in the United States, keiretsu are illegal. They are against [[antitrust]] laws. ==History== The keiretsu started after [[World War II]] during the [[History_of_Japan#Occupied_Japan|American occupation of Japan]]. Before there were keiretsu, there were [[zaibatsu]]. The zaibatsu were also business groups, but they were owned by families. The zaibatsu supported the military government of Japan from the 1800s through World War II, so the Americans broke them up after the war.<ref name=SJ /> In the 1990s, there was a [[East Asian financial crisis|financial crisis in East Asia]]. Most of the companies in keiretsu decided to cut costs.<ref name=HBR /> This weakened the keiretsu because each company wanted to get the b