综合商社是一种最早出现在日本的独特的企业组织形式。日本主要综合商社从20世纪50年代出现至今，一直是日本经济发展的重要推动主体。日本经济发展所面对的工业生产原料匮乏的现实，和综合商社在进出口贸易以及对外直接投资业务上的综合优势，使得日本在上世纪70年代之后进行海外资源、能源项目开发基本上都是由各大综合商社负责实施。以三菱商事为代表的日本大型商社，一方面保障了日本国内稳定的能源、资源需求，另一方面也通过海外资源的开发获得了巨大的利益。自1991年日本“泡沫经济”破裂以来，综合商社凭借国际能源、资源价格的走高，多年净利润增长率在日本企业中排在前列，为日本经济复苏提供了动力。2015年伴随国际石油、矿石价格下跌，日本五大综合商社全面业绩衰退，则也显示出日本综合商社目前对于资源、能源开发事业的依赖性。

General trading company (Sogo Shosha) is a unique form of enterprise organization, which first appeared in Japan. Since the 1950s, Japan’s general reading company has played a role in Japan’s economy development. However, the pattern of the general trading company was questioned for many times. The performance of the general trading company also fell sharply from the 1980s to 1990s. To deal with the challenge, the general trading companies in Japan, almost all chose to seek breakthrough in overseas resource project development. Since the collapse of Japan's bubble economy in 1991, the general trading companies in Japan have achieved highest net profit margin among the Japanese enterprise.