Information Technology Innovation And The Japanese Economy

The notion that innovation in information technology could spark a revitalization of the Japanese economy became a hot topic in 2000, and the Japanese government announced an e-Japan Strategy for creating a "knowledge emergent society" in January 2001. However, just when a consensus seemed to be emerging regarding the importance of IT innovation in Japan, the country's IT industries were deeply influenced by a recession that originated in the U.S. Although economic conditions have improved, strong IT-driven economic growth in Japan has not bounced back. Using a newly constructed set of data, this book examines how the Japanese economy has been affected by advances in information and communications technology, and whether Japan's experience with IT advancement was a short-lived bubble or part of a truly revolutionary change in the Japanese economy that will lead to long-term growth. The authors discuss similarities and differences between Japan's experience with IT innovation and that of the United States, where IT is thought to have played a major role in stimulating the economy.

This book summarizes highlights of the investigation of “An Elucidation of the Role of Institutional Systems in Characterizing Technology Development Trajectories – A Global Comparative Analysis of Manufacturing Technology and Information Te- nology in the Enhancement of Business Practice” supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scienti?c Research (S) by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology/Japan Society for Science Policy over the period 2002–2006. Background and objectives of the investigation are summarized as follows: (a) Japan ranks far below the level of the USA with respect to the development and utilization of information technology (IT) in the information society that emerged in the 1990s. (b) This can be attributed toa vicious cycle between Japan’s non-elastic institutions, insuf?cient utilization of the potential bene?ts of IT, and economic stagnation. (c) The source of such a vicious cycle can be derived from the fundamental d- ferences of the characterizing process of technology between manufacturing technology (MT) and IT during their diffusion processes. This investigation - tempted to elucidate this mechanism. Noteworthy ?ndings obtained include: (a) MT has been developed largely by the supply side and its functionality is - tablished during the stage of its supply to the market. In contrast, IT is strongly driven by the demand side and its functionality is created through diffusion in a self-propagating way. This contrast can be clearly observed in the dramatic advancement of Japan’s mobile phone industry in the late 1990s.

This book explores Japan's efforts to promote the commercial benefits of science and technology. Japan has made major scientific investments, with a view to enhancing the country's medium and long-term economic prospects; these successful efforts have re-enforced the country's reputation as a leader in the promotion of national innovation.

Economic progress requires technological development, which in turn depends on a country's social capacity to acquire, assimilate, and develop new technologies. Focusing on the evolution of Japan's economy from the Meiji Restoration to the present day, this volume provides an authoritative account, firmly grounded in theoretical and empirical analysis, of the country's attempts to generate the necessary social capacity for technological innovation and absorption. Successive chapters address the specific experiences of a number of key Japanese industries during this process. Each industrial case study is written by an acknowledged expert in the field and presents material of significant interest to specialists in economic development in a form that is also accessible to the nonspecialist. The book concludes with a summary of useful lessons, variously applicable to countries at all the different stages of industrialization.

Long-awaited reforms in technology policy and corporate strategy are now taking place in Japan. This book asks whether it is the programme of reform or the will and ability to implement reforms which is new.

This book analyzes the relationship between technological innovation and economic development in Japan before World War II. Guan Quan deploys econometric analysis, multivariate statistical analysis and case studies from different industries to shed light on technological innovation in the Japanese context with particular emphasis on the importance of the patent system. A great deal of new inventions and patents in this period led to fast economic growth in Japan characterized by the simultaneous development of both traditional and modern industries. These insights help reshape the understanding of Japan's economic development and industrial advancement at an early stage and provide pointers to developing countries as to how human capital, social capabilities and thereby technological innovation can figure in economic growth. The book will appeal to academics of the East Asian economy, development economics and modern economic history as well as general readers interested in the miracle of the Japanese economy as the first to achieve economic development and modernization among non-Western countries.

This book studies the industrial development of Japan since the mid-nineteenth century, with particular emphasis on how the various industries built technological capabilities. The Japanese were extraordinarily creative in searching out and learning to use modern technologies, and the authors investigate the emergence of entrepreneurs who began new and risky businesses, how the business organizations evolved to cope with changing technological conditions, and how the managers, engineers, and workers acquired organizational and technological skills through technology importation, learning-by-doing, and their own R & D activities. The book investigates the interaction between private entrepreneurial activities and public policy, through a general examination of economic and industrial development, a study of the evolution of management systems, and six industrial case studies: textile, iron and steel, electrical and communications equipment, automobiles, shipbuilding and aircraft, and pharmaceuticals. The authors show how the Japanese government has played an important supportive role in the continuing innovation, without being a substitute for aggressive business enterprise constantly venturing into unfamiliar terrains.