> This is very different from how most wealthy countries operate. American firms, for example, tend to prioritize focus above all else

It hasn't always been like that. Western companies, including US companies, used to have lots of diversification as well (maybe not as much as the Japanese, but much more than today's companies still: not that long ago a company like IBM used to make mouses and keyboards, in addition to their photocopier, mainframe, software, and personal computer business. They even made a hydrogen peroxide analyzer in 1982![1]). They did so because it makes the company more resilient, and because in that time their shareholders wanted the companies they invested in to be resilient, to have a reasonable yield/risk profile.

Things changed in the 80s, when deregulation generate a boom in financial products. Then, individual company resilience was seen as obsolete, you'd cover your risk through portfolio diversification and all you'd want from a company was the pure yield, and companies were streamlined to make as much profit as possible, everything reducing the ratio being sold or terminated.

Fast forward 40 years, people believe it has always been like that and it must be so kind of deep cultural difference between Asia and the West.

[1]: https://web.archive.org/web/20050119055353/http://www-03.ibm...