> > -- in addition to the economic muscle of the keiretsu/chaebol/Chinese biz
> > clusters, with their networks of Asian affiliates,
>
> Which have absolutely nothing in common with the huge trading houses,
> cartels and ethnic networks found in early European capitalism?
The keiretsu are not small, premodern units of production -- the Japanese keiretsu alone make up probably a third of Japan's manufacturing output, and the globally competitive, high-tech third at that. Keiretsu-like structures are beginning to show up elsewhere in East Asia, though -- Taiwan's business groups are mutating into pan-Chinese entities, while the South Korean chaebol are losing their family-owned status and becoming shareholder-run organizations, etc.
-- DRR