Subcontractor - Shitauke

A system in which small and medium-sized enterprises that are economically and technologically inferior are subordinate to a particular large enterprise and produce products under the control and rule of that large enterprise. Subcontracting is a relationship between a large enterprise and a small and medium-sized enterprise, but its defining feature is that it is not a one-off outsourcing relationship based on market mechanisms, but rather contains a continuous relationship of control and subordination. There is a type of subcontracting system in the West that has a similar appearance, called the subcontract system, but its scope is not as broad and deep and hierarchical as in Japan, and it has a much stronger flavor of using specialized factories rather than a relationship of control and subordination. In Japan, the subcontracting system is widespread, partly because of the overwhelming number of small and medium-sized enterprises. For large enterprises (parent enterprises), it has the advantages of low-cost production due to low wages, a cushion against economic fluctuations, and avoidance of fixed capital equipment or capital savings, while for subcontracting enterprises, it has the advantages of receiving financial and technical assistance and resolving sales problems.

[Mitsuo Morimoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

経済的、技術的に劣位にある中小企業が、特定の大企業に従属しながら、その支配・統制の下で大企業の注文を受けて生産を行う体制。下請（制）は、大企業と中小企業間の関係であるが、市場メカニズムにたつ単発的な外注関係ではなく、支配と従属の関係を持続的に内包している点に決定的な特徴がある。欧米にも外形の類似したサブコントラクト・システムsubcontract systemとよばれる一種の下請制はあるが、その範囲は日本の場合ほど広範かつ縦深‐階層的でなく、支配・従属の関係というよりは専門工場の利用という色彩がはるかに強い。日本では、中小企業の数が圧倒的に多いという事情もあって、広範囲に下請制が普及している。大企業（親企業）にとっては、低賃金による低コスト生産、景気変動のクッション、資本設備の固定化回避ないし資本節約という利点があり、下請企業にとっては、資金・技術の援助が受けられることや販売問題の解消などの利点があるためである。

［森本三男］

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