Super General Contractors (the five major companies)
Super general contractor, in Japan, is a general term that refers to the five general contractors: Shimizu Corporation, Obayashi Corporation, Taisei Corporation, Kajima Corporation, and Takenaka Corporation. They are also referred to as the “big five.”
Super general contractors are characterized by their remarkably large company size among general contractors. For example, in terms of the number of employees, the super general contractors have between 7,500 and 10,000 employees on a non-consolidated basis, and their sales (non-consolidated) are generally in the range of 1 trillion yen to 1.3 trillion yen.
Considering that the number of employees (non-consolidated) of semi-major general contractors is around 2,500 to 5,000 and sales (non-consolidated) is around 300 billion yen to 650 billion yen, it is clear that super general contractors are extremely large in terms of the number of employees and sales.
In addition to the construction division, the super general contractors are engaged in a wide range of construction-related divisions, including design, engineering, and R&D divisions, and each company develops its own unique construction methods and technologies.
Therefore, for example, it is difficult for semi-major general contractors and mid-sized general contractors to handle ultra-large redevelopment projects with hundreds of thousands of square meters of building floor space, high-rise development projects with more than 50 floors, and construction projects that require special construction methods and advanced technology, which can only be handled by super general contractors.
In some cases, semi-major general contractors and mid-sized general contractors may differ from each other in terms of their approach to classifying projects by size and definition, but the five major super general contractors have remained unchanged for decades. This is also a distinctive feature.
In FY2020, the market size of general contractors in Japan will be approximately 52.38 trillion yen on a volume basis (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism), and the total sales of the five super general contractors (on a non-consolidated basis) will be approximately 5.79 trillion yen. Considering that the total number of construction companies in Japan is approximately 470,000, this is a large percentage and shows their influence on the construction industry.
As of March 2021, more than 70% of the orders received by the five super general contractors were for construction work, with 75% and 22% for civil engineering work, respectively.
See the table below for sales and number of employees of the five super general contractors.
List of Japan’s super general contractors (five major companies)
Five super general contractors with non-consolidated sales of more than 1 trillion yen
| Company | Sales (in trillions JPY) | Number of Employees |
|---|---|---|
| Shimizu Corporation | 1.25 | 10,494 |
| Obayashi Corporation | 1.23 | 9,754 |
| Kajima Corporation | 1.19 | 9,859 |
| Taisei Corporation | 1.14 | 9,789 |
| Takenaka Corporation | 0.97 | 8,042 |
| Total of 5 super GCs | 5.79 | 47,938 |
| Average of 5 super GCs | 1.16 | 9,588 |
Source: Compiled based on each company’s annual securities report and financial statements (as of March 31, 2021) Values are based on each company’s “non-consolidated” figures.
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