Article Abstract:
Japanese firms obtained a dominant share of the U.S. numerical control (NC) machine tool market due to a carefully planned and executed long-term global strategy. Japanese industrial policy was helpful, primarily through MITI encouragement to the industry to refocus product line on new technology machine tools, with funding for joint research and encouragement of mergers and product-line rationalization. In turn, Japan's largest machine tool companies initiated firm-level strategies of continued upgrading of capital equipment through investment, with a concurrent reduction in the use of labor, leading to lowered costs and increased productivity. They evolved into low-cost, high-volume producers and, just as important, introduced new lines of inexpensive, standardized, off-the-shelf NC machine tools particularly suited to the needs of smaller businesses. These machines were then introduced in the U.S., taking advantage of delivery periods of over a year for tools ordered from U.S. manufacturers. By 1986, machine tool imports accounted for over 50% of U.S. demand, even as Japanese manufacturers began establishing a manufacturing presence in the U.S. Possible corporate and U.S. government responses are examined. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
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Article Abstract:
Are "multinational," "transnational," or "global" corporations truly stateless? By applying a number of criteria - geographical spread and scope of operations, ownership, control, people, legal nationality, and tax domicile - one must conclude that they are national firms with international operations. The home nations remain the primary source of a corporation's international competitive advantage, so that weakness at home is unlikely to be compensated by overseas operations. Moreover, it is often simply not feasible for a company as a whole to shift its home base (as distinct from shifting its headquarters). The firm needs its home nations just as the nation needs its home-based firms. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
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Article Abstract:
Virtually every relevant measure, both macroeconomic and microeconomic, reveals the low levels of United States foreign direct investment in Japan. Many critics blame American companies and point to their alleged inadequate efforts to penetrate Japan's markets. This article argues that Japanese restrictions have played a more important role. Restrictions imposed by the Japanese government have eased in recent years, but today numerous barriers stem from Japanese business. The experiences of two notable American "success stories" in Japan, Toys 'R' Us and Merck, illustrate many of the obstacles that today confront even the most determined American companies. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)
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