keiretsu

American  

[key-ret-soo] / keɪˈrɛt su /

noun

plural

keiretsu

1. (especially in Japan) a loose coalition of business groups.

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Etymology

Origin of keiretsu

Borrowed into English from Japanese around 1975–80

Explanation

In Japan, related companies are sometimes closely interlocked in a keiretsu, where shareholders in one company also own shares in the others. A Japanese clothing manufacturer might share ownership with companies that furnish its fabric and other supplies, as well as with those that warehouse, distribute, and retail its finished products. This is a vertical keiretsu. In horizontal types of keiretsu, a bank and several companies share mutual ownership. The bank helps secure new markets and contracts for the companies, who also share employees and expertise. A keiretsu gives the linked companies a competitive advantage through reduced costs and shared risk.

Example Sentences

This could breed “risks similar to past periods of exuberance such as 1980’s keiretsu in Japan and Dot.Com’s ‘vendor financing’ schemes,” he says.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 29, 2025

The Japanese auto industry used to draw strengths from its decades-old keiretsu system - a hierarchical pyramid of equity-interlocked suppliers with automakers sitting atop and ensuring business security.

From Reuters • Nov. 22, 2022

Collusive miners could, like the Japanese keiretsu networks of major corporate groups, create an outwardly competitive market that actually serves a small coalition of private and government interests.

From Salon • Nov. 25, 2018

And when the Japanese were eclipsing the U.S. economy through the keiretsu, large affiliated industrial companies working hand in hand with government—until Japan’s Lost Decade became two.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 3, 2018

One notable characteristic of the economy has been how manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors have worked together in closely-knit groups called keiretsu.

From The 2008 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency