Indulgent Parsimony During the Great Recession of 2009 - Is Japan a Special Case?

The global economic turmoil has had an immediate impact on the level and nature of consumption by both average and affluent citizens. Professor Grossberg calls this new phenomenon “indulgent parsimony”. Indulgent parsimony involves a paradigm shift in consumer behavior from materialistic and acquisitive consuming to a more subdued
consumerism that is informed by consumers’ new concerns that have resulted from the loss of net worth (through stock market crashes and real estate busts), the loss of income (from jobs ended), and the decline of confidence in the future. He will explore whether, and to what extent, this phenomenon which has rapidly reached revolutionary
proportions in the American marketplace has also emerged in Japan, and he will make predictions as to what industries and product types are likely to fare best during the recessionary climate of the next few years.

Kenneth Alan Grossberg is Professor of Marketing and Director of the Waseda Marketing Forum at Waseda Business School. He has been active in international business and management education for more than thirty-five years, much of that time spent working in Japan and the Pacific Rim. Prof. Grossberg was a published authority on Japanese
history before he became a specialist in international marketing and Asian political economy. He has worked in investment banking, banking and strategic consulting in addition to the academic world.