Japan And The Electronics Industry

Not too long ago in the grand scheme of things

, Japan's industrial capabilities were quite basic, particularly following the restrictions of the post-war period. Today though, the small Asian nation is pretty much the watchword for high-quality consumer electronics. Households throughout the world boast a Denon Hi Fi system or a Sony Playstation, a Toshiba television or a Panasonic mixing station.

If you'd been in Japan in the post-war period, in an economy and industry devastated by air warfare and over a decade of exclusive focus upon military might, you'd never have guessed where the country would be today. Predicting that Japan would lead the way in automotive industry - building the nations supercars and superbikes - would have been a huge stretch of the imagination, especially given the strength of the American industry at the time. Still, predicting that Japan would be the dominant manufacturer of consumer electronics and one of the leading nations in the field of scientific, technology, machinery and medical research would be even more unlikely.

Today, Japan's position at the forefront of the consumer electronics sector can be traced to its strength in the fields of research. It has the world's third largest budget for research and development ($130 billion) and a large portion of these funds - and a large proportion of the country's 677,000 scientific researchers - work exclusively in the complementary fields of computing, electronics and robotics. This significant investment has paid off in terms of scientific recognition - Japan has the largest share of scientific Nobel laureates in the Asian region - and even more so in terms of economic success.

Japan has had such a huge impact on the world of consumer electronics because of a similarly focused approach to industrial development. Its trade and investment interaction with the world has become, over the course of the 20th century, nearly completely dominated by the fields of robotics (manufacturing not science fiction!), automobiles - and electronics. The last is possibly the wide-ranging field though.

The first company to put Japan at the forefront of consumer electronics was Sony. Today, they may be most well known for playstations but originally, they were pioneers of radio. Founders Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita helped develop the world's first ever pocket transistor radio, starting the Japanese reputation for miniaturisation and sophistication in the world of electronics.

As other domestic companies formed in competition to Sony's meteoric success, Japan became a major exporter for consumer electronics. By 1991 46.7% of colour televisions and 87.3% of VCRs made in Japan were exported and this trend has fuelled the profits behind Japan's success in consumer electronics.

by:Sharon Cooper

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