Where are the Japanese? Japanese information and communications firms in an internetworked world

Martin Fransman

Telecommunications Policy, 1999, vol. 23, issue 3-4, 317-333

Abstract: A decade ago Japanese information and communications (ICT) companies were perceived as posing a significant competitive threat to their Western competitors. Now they are perceived as being in a state of crisis and decline. Have Japanese ICT firms collapsed? Are they to be written off in the global competitive race? This paper examines these questions in two ways: by analysing the strengths and weaknesses of Japanese competencies in the computer, telecommunications equipment, semiconductor, and consumer electronics sectors; and by examining how well they have adapted to the radical change constituted by the emergence of the Internetworked World. Particular attention is paid to the specific case of Japanese consumer electronics and the Sony success story. The paper ends with an examination of the implications of the current crises facing these Japanese firms and their corporate restructuring responses. Several predictions are made regarding the future. The other companies discussed include Fujitsu, Hitachi, Matsushita, NEC, and Toshiba.

Keywords: Japan; Sony; ICT; firms; Consumer; electronics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596199000099
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:telpol:v:23:y:1999:i:3-4:p:317-333

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30471/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... /30471/bibliographic

Access Statistics for this article

Telecommunications Policy is currently edited by Erik Bohlin

More articles in Telecommunications Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().