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6 - Holding Technology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2012

Walter Hatch
Affiliation:
University of Washington
Kozo Yamamura
Affiliation:
University of Washington
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Summary

No one can deny that Japan has become a world leader in technology or that, in many areas, its technological prowess even surpasses that of the United States. Scholars attending a 1991 conference on the topic came up with “a unanimous, unambiguous conclusion”: “Japan's technological capability across a wide spectrum of commercially significant fields is formidable and growing relative to that of the United States.… Over the past several decades, Japanese companies have captured growing shares of the global market for numerous high-technology products and have accelerated the pace of innovation in mature industries.” This conclusion is supported by studies in both the United States and Japan.

According to the US National Science Board, Japanese firms received 44 percent of all the patents issued around the world for robot technology from 1986 through 1990. US firms, by comparison, received 24 percent. The competition for patents for optical fiber technology was dead even (33 percent each) during this period. But Japanese firms showed remarkable improvement since the 1976–80 period, when they garnered only 23 percent of those patents.

MITI, meanwhile, routinely assesses the technological competence of Japanese and American firms in a number of fields. It has found that Japan is now leading the United States in the reliability and performance of such products as VCRs, high-tensile strength steel, and semiconductor lasers.

Type
Chapter
Information
Asia in Japan's Embrace
Building a Regional Production Alliance
, pp. 97 - 112
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1996

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  • Holding Technology
  • Walter Hatch, University of Washington, Kozo Yamamura, University of Washington
  • Book: Asia in Japan's Embrace
  • Online publication: 05 February 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139106771.007
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  • Holding Technology
  • Walter Hatch, University of Washington, Kozo Yamamura, University of Washington
  • Book: Asia in Japan's Embrace
  • Online publication: 05 February 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139106771.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Holding Technology
  • Walter Hatch, University of Washington, Kozo Yamamura, University of Washington
  • Book: Asia in Japan's Embrace
  • Online publication: 05 February 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139106771.007
Available formats
×