Acquiring, Adapting and Developing Technologies

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xviii

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2. Japanese Experience in Technology: A Survey

   1. Japanese Experience in Technology: A Survey

      • Ryōshin Minami, Kwan S. Kim, Fumio Makino, Joung-hae Seo

      Pages 1-28

3. Choice and Adaptation of Technology

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 29-29

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   2. The Development of Appropriate Technologies for Export Promotion in the Silk-Reeling Industry

      • Ryōshin Minami, Fumio Makino

      Pages 31-53

   3. Mechanism of the Diffusion of Technologies: Case Study of the Cotton-Weaving Industry

      • Ryōshin Minami, Fumio Makino

      Pages 54-84

   4. Technology Choice in the Cotton-Spinning Industry: The Switch from Mules to Ring Frames

      • Yukihiko Kiyokawa

      Pages 85-111

   5. Choice of Technologies in the Ship-Building Industry: Modern versus Traditional

      • Katsuo Ōtsuka

      Pages 112-137

   6. The Development of the Farm Machinery Industry: Case Study of the Walking-Type Tractor

      • Toshiyuki Kako

      Pages 138-161

4. Research and Development, Innovation and Industrial Organization

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 163-163

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   2. The Dynamics of Innovation and Learning-by-Doing: The Case of the Integrated Circuit Industry

      • Akimitsu Sakuma

      Pages 165-190

   3. Organizational Innovation and the Development of the Sewing-Machine Industry

      • Susumu Hondai

      Pages 191-213

   4. Technological Innovation in the Steel Industry: Recognizing Potential in Innovations

      • Seiichirō Yonekura

      Pages 214-248

   5. An International Comparison of Productivity and Product Development Performance in the Automobile Industry

      • Takahiro Fujimoto, Akira Takeishi

      Pages 249-280

   6. Research and Development Competition and Innovation in the Video Cassette Recorder Industry

      • Joung-hae Seo

      Pages 281-304

   7. Japanese Technology and Industrial Development in Thailand: The Experience of the Synthetic Fibre Industry

      • Tran Van Tho

      Pages 305-330

   8. Concluding Reflections: Lessons from the Japanese Experience

      • Ryōshin Minami, Kwan-S. Kim, Fumio Makino, Joung-hae Seo

      Pages 331-338

5. Back Matter

   Pages 339-346

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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.

• competition
• development
• dynamics
• economic development
• economy
• industrial organization
• innovation
• interest
• organization
• organizations
• product development
• productivity
• success
• technological innovation

• Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan

  Ryōshin Minami

• Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame, USA

  Kwan S. Kim

• Tokyo Gakugei University, Tokyo, Japan

  Fumio Makino

• Institute of Business Research, Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo, Japan

  Joung-hae Seo

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