Japan's Growing Technological Capability Implications for the U.S. Economy (1992) / Chapter Skim
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The Changing Place of Japan in the Global Scientific and Technological Enterprise
The Changing Place of Japan in the Global Scientific and Technological Enterprise
Pages 106-135
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From page 106... ...
Along with dramatic structural change in the Japanese economy, this period has witnessed a transformation in Japanese technological capabilities. From its position in the 1960s as an economy that relied extensively on the transfer and modification of externally developed technologies, Japan has emerged as an economy with many firms that define the technological frontier in their industries.
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From page 107... ...
The next section discusses some of the complexities for corporate managers and public policy created by these links and by other efforts by policymakers and scholars to divine the "lessons" of Japanese policy. JAPAN'S CHANGING TECHNOLOGICAL POSITION, 1960-1990 A number of indicators suggest that Japanese firms have progressed during the postwar period from borrowing, modifying, and successfully commercializing foreign technologies to operating at the technological frontier.
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From page 108... ...
patents were cited more than proportionately in other patent applications, an indicator of the high quality of the Japanese patents.8 Japan outstripped the combined totals of Germany, France, and England in patents granted in the United States in 1987 (Table 2)
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From page 109... ...
manufactunng.9 ability of Japanese automotive firms to bring new models to market more rapidly than U.S. auto firms, and Mansfield's research indicates that for technologies based on sources of knowledge outside of the firm, Japanese firms exhibit significantly shorter development and commercialization cycles.~° Mansfield's research also indicates that Japanese firms devote roughly Other research has documented the 9See C
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From page 110... ...
(ed.) , Kagaku gijustu hakusho heisei 3 nendo: Kagaku gijustu katsudo no guroobarizeeshon no shinten to wagakuni no kadai (1991 White Paper on R&D: Developments Towards the Globalization of R&D and Japan's Tasks)
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From page 111... ...
R&D system, with its high mobility of engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs among firms, heavy reliance on university research for basic science and training, and on small firms for technology commercialization, mean that access by foreign firms to U.S. scientific and technological advances is relatively easy.~3 The relative importance within the Japanese R&D system of "open" and "closed" research institutions, respectively universities and private firms, contrasts with that of the United States.
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From page 112... ...
In this section, we review the development of both of these approaches to access, relying on fragmentary data from the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and other sources.15 One of the most important implications of the growth of Japanese technological capabilities is the need for better data on the nature of private and public relationships between U.S.
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From page 113... ...
18For purposes of the survey, "foreign-owned R&D" establishments are defined as those operated by foreign firms or joint ventures in which non-Japanese firms control more than 51 percent of the equity.
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(ed.) , Kagaku gijutsu hakusho heisei 2 nendo (1990 White Paper on R&D)
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From page 115... ...
patents received by large U.S. and foreign firms' Japanese research facilities, and suggest that the contribution of foreign-owned R&D in Japan during 1978-1986 was greatest in motor vehicles, scientific and measurement instruments, and electrical equipment (including semiconductors)
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From page 116... ...
In general, despite the evidence cited above concerning the importance of Japan as a source of new industrial technology, the NSF study suggests that most U.S. firms continue to use Japanese R&D laboratories as instruments for improving or maintaining access to Japanese markets.
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From page 117... ...
Objectives considered "least important" were to establish a research base in the Far East; to increase the effectiveness of absorbing technology generated in Japan; and to qualify for Japanese government grants and loans for industrial R&D.23 U.S. firms also staffed their Japanese R&D facilities largely with Japanese scientists and engineers, rather than rotating personnel from other research facilities through their Japanese research facilities.
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From page 118... ...
and European, and Japanese and European firms have grown significantly in number during the past 20 26Eois Peters, "Technology Strategies of Japanese Subsidiaries and Joint Ventures in the U.S.," Center for Science and Technology Policy, School of Management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1991. 27Some evidence suggests that Japanese firms historically have been considerably more effective than U.S.
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From page 119... ...
. Ashy Canon Fujitsu Fujitsu Fujitsu Hitaehi Intelligent Systems Researeh Laboratory San Jose, CA Data Storage Laboratory Boulder, CO Toshiba America Information Systems San Jose, CA Media Teehnology Researeh Institute San Francisco, CA Costa Mesa, CA Fujitsu Systems San Diego, CA Information Systems San Jose, CA Open Systems Solutions Emeryville, CA Hitaehi Microsystems San Jose, CA Scanners, laser printers (1985)
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From page 120... ...
Palo Alto, CA Fujitsu Fujitsu Microelectronics Custom gate array design, SPARC San Jose, CA Fujitsu Fujitsu Microelectronics Memories, logic and analog, ASIC San Jose, CA Fujitsu Fujitsu Microelectronics Microwave (MIC) and lightwave integrated Santa Clara, CA circuits (MMIC)
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From page 121... ...
Components Sunnyvale, CA Telecommunication Equipment Applied Seattle, WA Telesis Fujitsu Fujitsu Fujitsu Fijitsu Hitachi Matsushita Matsushita Oki Electric Ricoh Sony TDK Fujitsu Network Systems Raleigh, NC Business Communication Systems Anaheim, CA Telecommunications Research Center Richardson, TX Fujitsu Imaging Systems Danbury, CT Hitachi Telecom Norcroff, GA Applied Research Laboratory Burlington, NJ Communications Systems Laboratory Secaucus, NJ Research Triangle Park, NC Advanced Switching Laboratory Irving, TX Suwanee, GA San Jose, CA Sony Telecommunications Technology Center Paramus, NJ Components Engineering Torrance, CA Data communications equipment (1989) Central office switching equipment (1987)
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From page 122... ...
San Jose, CA Sony Sony Engineering and TV components Manufacturing San Diego, CA Toshiba Toshiba America HDTV receivers (1990) Consumer Electronics Wayne, NJ Semiconductor Materials and Equipment Hoya Hoya Micro Mask Sunnyvale, CA Photo masks Hoya Probe Technology Probe cards Santa Clara, CA Kyocera San Diego, CA Ceramics Nikon Nikon Precision Wafer steppers applications lab (1990)
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From page 123... ...
Although international joint ventures have long been a mainstay of international business operations, the "alliances" of the past two decades focus more intensively on technology-intensive activities and industnes, and frequently are concerned with product development or manufacture for a global, rather than a local, market. Most such alliances involving private firms are motivated by one or more of the following three factors: access to foreign markets; access to foreign technologies; and access to low-cost capital.
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From page 124... ...
Table 5 displays trends in joint venture formation dunug 1982-1987, and together with Table 6, yields several interesting insights. Table 5 shows the acceleration in the number of newly formed international research joint ventures, which increased from 7 in 1982 to 36 in 1987.31 Table 5 also suggests a high concentration of international joint ventures in the chemicals industry, which accounts for almost one-fifth of the total number of ventures formed during this period.
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From page 125... ...
MOWERY AND DAVID J TEECE TABLE 5 Formation of New International Research Joint Ventures Involving Japanese Firms, by Year and Industry, 1982-1987 125 Cumulative Venture 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 Total Total 7 7 23 37 25 36 135 Manufacturing 6 7 19 29 18 30 109 Food 0 0 1 2 1 1 5 Textiles 0 0 0 2 0 3 5 Chemicals 1 1 7 7 4 4 24 Steel 1 1 4 0 0 2 8 General machinery 1 0 1 2 2 5 11 Electric machinery 3 4 4 9 6 6 32 Heavy electric machinery 3 1 0 4 3 0 11 Household appliances 0 1 3 2 2 0 8 Communication/computer 0 1 1 2 1 3 8 Other electric machinery 0 1 0 1 0 3 5 Transport machinery 0 0 1 5 3 1 10 Instruments 0 1 1 1 0 3 6 Other manufacturing 0 0 0 1 2 5 8 Nonmanufacturing 1 0 4 8 7 6 26 Construction 0 0 1 1 0 1 3 Communications 0 0 1 2 1 0 4 Finance 0 0 2 3 1 2 8 Utilities 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Other services 1 0 0 2 4 2 9 SOURCE: Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Status Report on International Joint Research and Development of Japanese Private Enterprises (Tokyo: 1987)
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From page 126... ...
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From page 128... ...
firms participating in international joint ventures may need to strengthen their abilities to learn and absorb new technologies from their partners. Many U.S.-Japan collaborative ventures involve the purchase by large Japanese firms of significant equity positions in small start-up firms.
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From page 130... ...
Indeed, the basis for such domestic high technology concentrations as Silicon Valley in California, Route 128 in Massachusetts, and North Carolina's Research Triangle is the tendency for critical technological assets (mainly people and specialized suppliers of goods and services) to remain regionally concentrated.
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From page 131... ...
Strategies designed to learn from the joint venture partner must be actively pursued, for ultimately the distribution of the benefits and costs from joint ventures in high technology will swing on how well each party is able to learn from the other. The growing web of U.S.-Japanese technological linkages among private firms has and will continue to complicate any efforts by one or the other government to restrict access to its domestic research system.
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From page 132... ...
Mowery, "Public Policy Influence on the Formation of International Joint Ventures," International Trade Journal, vol.
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From page 133... ...
research system and a technologically strong Japanese research system also raises complex issues of balancing national contributions and benefits to the global scientific and technological enterpnse. The results of scientific research are increasingly mobile internationally and difficult to "appropriate" by the discoverer, a characterization that applies less accurately to the results of technology-oriented research.
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From page 134... ...
Japanese cooperative research policies, for example, historically supported the diffusion and utilization of technological and scientific knowledge that was derived from external sources, and supported Japanese firms' efforts to "catch up" with global technology leaders. Within Japan, however, cooperative research rarely served to advance the scientific or technological frontier, a purpose for which it is often 40Some Japanese firms already are aggressively pursuing infringement actions against South Korean firms.
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From page 135... ...
Moreover, uncritical imitation of this and other technology policies associated with the period of "catch-up" in the Japanese economy overlooks considerable evidence suggesting that Japanese policymakers are now considering policies, such as public funding of basic research, that have long been central features of the U.S. national research system.
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