The Role of the Japanese in Developing New Technology
The character of industrial research and development went a dramatic change in the later parts in the 20th century. With most information about new research and technology being available on the public domain because of the nature of the market and legal constraints, the basic advantages of developing new fundamental technology was largely negated by companies, which had superior manufacturing and marketing technologies. This is because these companies with more expertise in “applied” research were able to transfer technology from the lab to the marketplace faster. This is evident when we consider most successful new businesses founded in the late 20th century. These businesses were not those who developed the most innovative or fundamental technologies. Instead these were those firms who were able to effectively utilize and exploit these technologies by making them into commercially successful products. As their market strength grew, they diversified into different product lines based on their applied research labs, which could develop innovative uses for existing technology.
This is apparent when we consider that Japanese companies went from being regarded worldwide as mere “copycats” of American technology to being regarded as major innovators of the use of technology. This paper attempts to explain the success of Japanese technological firms in relation to the Global research and development strategy adopted by them as tries to show that this is a direct result of the Japanese nemawashi and its judicious investment in long term technology that appears promising.
The emergence of new, previously untapped scientific nodes around the world led to technology becoming ...
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...o solve the problems found.
In conclusion, the advantage the Japanese firms had in using the applied research model before most of the US electronic firms gave them the initial big lift. They were able channel and use their limited research resources more effectively to develop better quality and cheaper products by focusing their research on improving their manufacturing processes. This helped them gain market share. After they had a strong market position, they could effectively use that to diversify and launch different product lines. These products ideas were also for the most part built using borrowed or licensed foreign technology, which they built upon. In addition, the presence of their home base augmenting research labs abroad helped them identify key product technologies they could use and their emphasis on long range planning has seemingly paid off.
is the driver of technology; and the technology, in turn, is driving fundamental changes in
By accelerating generation and expanding the yield of products, an industry could bring down expenses and augment benefits. In 1913 Henry Portage introduced the universes first mechanical production system, with emotional results. In 1910 it took 12 hours to manufacture a Passage Model-T. In 1914 it took 1 hours. Portage could cut the expense of his cars from $950 in 1909 to $295 in 1923. He sold 79,000 automobiles in 1912 - in 1921 he sold 1,250,000. As an aftereffect of large scale manufacturing, plant proprietors regularly got themselves ready to deliver a larger number of merchandise than the business sector would retain. They thusly expected to build buyer request, and to do as such they swung to the developing business of promoting, which worked untiringly to persuade purchasers that they required the new items that were pouring off manufacturing plant mechanical production systems. Brand names, trademarks, ensures, mottos, VIP supports, and different contrivances were utilized to allure potential clients. Evaluated uses on publicizing ascended from $682 million in 1914 to just about $3 billion in
The. Ganz, Cheryl R. "Science Advancing Mankind." The Society for the History of Technology. 2000. The. Haskell, Douglas. A. A.
Technology has grown in more ways than one, where it has reached the point of
In his analysis, Charles Fine goes on to note that as the speed of an industry accelerates, the advantage one company may gain shortens – advantages are temporary. This conclusion is somewhat intuitive since the research and development to production cycle gets s...
...s and partly, to gain a competitive advantages in the global market. Thus, the company spends billions of dollars in innovative research activities to add new knowledge into the existing knowledge.
Slater, S. (2005). Successful development and commercialization of technological innovation: Insights based on strategy type. The Journal of Product Innovation Management, 23(1), 26-33. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-5885.2005.00178.x/citedby
This case depicts about the success stories of the collaboration in the automobile industry by the Japanese and US firm though they were obviously competitors. One significant success story emerging from the alliance involves Ford probe and Mazda MX-6. There were swapping of resources and capabilities between the two firms. Mazda designers design the basic platform, engine and drive train for the cars. Mazda then design the outside of the MX-6 and Ford does same for the probe. Finally both cars are assembled at a factory owned by the two firms. Ford escort was another successful offspring of the alliance where again the Mazda engineers designed the car and Ford made it. But the alliance was not without spots. Mazda Navaho one of the offspring of the alliance which was basically build upon the on of the Ford popular product Ford explorer and build by the Ford makers. Ford made an opposite step by denying to provide the Japanese partners Navaho production to continue production of its own product line. The partner Mazda in addition fell into financial distress and Ford got the effective management control of Mazda and took some bold steps which eventually went against the collaboration.
...&D capability was not supported by their ability to efficiently produce and market the innovation. Since the R&D is separated from production and sales, it was not market-oriented enough. The limitation of sharing local market knowledge also leads Philips to its inability sell the excellent innovation that R&D has developed. Seeing this as opportunity, Japanese companies able to combine Philips invention with their mass-market production ability and successfully became the leader in the market.
N.V. Philips (Netherlands) and Matsushita Electric (Japan) are among the largest consumer electronics companies in the world. Their success was based on two contrasting strategies – diversification of worldwide portfolio and local responsiveness for Philips, and high centralization and mass production for Matsushita.
Japan has the 3rd largest economy in the world; Japan had created successful brands that are famous across the globe such like Toyota, Sony, Fujifilm and Panasonic.
Jung Wha Han and William R. Boulton, Strategic Responses of U.S. Firms to the Japanese Competitive Challenge, “Strategic Analysis Models” , Volume 3, 1992, pp. 69-90.
Schmookler, J. (1962), "Economic sources of inventive activity", Journal of Economic History, vol. 22, pp. 1-10; reproduced in N. Rosenberg (ed., 1971), The Economics of Technological Change, Harmondsworth: Penguin, chapter 5.
“Success is never a destination - it is a journey” (Satenig St. Marie) and there is a company that understands that journey. Kodak has been around for many years providing families around the world with innovative and high quality products. Many homes worldwide recognize and associate film with the Kodak name. “The company ranks as a premier multinational corporation, with a brand recognized in virtually every country around the world” (Kodak History). However, the changes in technology create a dilemma for Kodak. The company’s considerations for digital imaging will change its long history with 35mm film production. Will the shift from 35mm to digital imaging affect Kodak’s successful journey? To find an answer to this question, we must analyze Kodak from an economic perspective. An economic perspective views many different factors and determines whether it is in Kodak’s best interest to pursue digital imaging, will give enough evidence to support a rational decision.
It is no secret that when it comes to technology, the United States and Japan have been constantly at war. Now that Japan is entering the age of he Internet, this competition is becoming fiercer than ever. The Internet market is beginning to restructure Japan's economy, and a " restructured Japan is going to be an immensely powerful competitor in all sorts of markets." (Rohwer 115) The pricing and availability of Internet access, is one area in which Japan is beginning to excel, soon they will be able to undercut their American competitor in both ways. The sheer amount of products available on the Japanese Internet is growing by leaps and bounds everyday, and the American market will have to catch up, or drop out.