In general, the Japanese firms that have invested in Canada are among the firms that invest in Canada are successful companies largest corporations in the world with market values of that are active in a wide range of markets, operating as much as US$156 billion and up to 140,000 employees in a large number of countries. [...] As summarized in An analysis of the current stock of Japanese FDI, Figure 3, the majority of operations are wholly-owned however, masks important investment trends that facilities; only 28% of the ventures established in the appear to be currently underway. [...] The relative number of joint while the majority of investments by Japanese firms in ventures, however, has been slowly but steadily rising Canada were in wholesale trade over the 20-year period over the past several decades; through the 1970s and 1960 - 1980, in more recent years the rate of 1980s, joint ventures accounted for 22% and 25%, establishment of these ventures has diminished respectivel [...] Thus, the vast majority of is becoming increasingly important, rising from 24% of Japanese joint ventures in Canada are partnerships the number of Japanese direct investments in Canada between two or more Japanese partners, with no direct in the 1960s to 51% of new ventures in the 1990s4. [...] In fact, Table 6 Combined with the trend toward manufacturing, it shows that 60% of Japanese investments in Canada in seems that Japanese investors are becoming more the 1980s were concerned with product planning and sensitive to the availability of skilled labour to work in 50% with information collection - figures that drop to increasingly complex operations.

From the back cover: Richard Wright's study chronicles and analyses the Japanese business presence in Canada. It reveals several distinguishing characteristics of Japanese investment, which should help allay some traditional Canadian concerns about foreign investment. Japanese investment is small in proportion to the total volume of Canada-Japan trade. Moreover, unlike other traditional foreign investors, who generally seek to gain direct control of affiliated companies in Canada, Japanese investors aim primarily to secure reliable flows of raw materials. Because the Japanese emphasis is on trade rather than on investment flows, a high proportion of Japanese investment is in the form of loans rather than equity, and the Japanese often take minority holdings or enter into joint ventures. The role of Japanese investment is thus a very different one from that which has been a source of concern about foreign ownership in Canada.