Japanese Electronics Industry Success and Recommendation

Management and Organizational Behavior

1. What made Japanese electronics industry initially successful?

As an island nation with no natural resources, the Japanese had to rely on their practical intelligence in order to survive. They have created a method of preserving food so that they could have enough provision that lasts for the entire winter season. They have developed agricultural methodologies that did not require soil or water. They have developed machineries that could harness sunlight, wind and heat to create electricity for the home. Innovations in Japan have always been designed to meet the need of the local market for products that are “kei-haku-tan-sho—light, thin, short, small—and that are internationally accepted” (Porter, 1990). Local manufacturers developed the first energy-saving air conditioning units, the first compact computers (now known as laptops), the mobile music player (the Walkman), the first robot made! Having mastered the art of making compact, and effective technology, Japan went on to penetrate “foreign markets with small, inexpensive compact [products] of adequate quality and competed on the basis of lower labor costs” (Porter, 1990). Japanese electronics companies went to other countries to build large plants to take advantage of economies of scale, and then utilized their labor-cost savings as capital for research and development. For Porter (1990), the Japanese “became innovators in process technology, pioneering just-in-time production and a host of other quality and productivity practices. These process improvements led to better product quality, better repair records, and better customer-satisfaction ratings than foreign competitors had”. Moreover, faced with limited land resources and an aging population, the Japanese had to automation for labor which led to “lower assembly costs, to products with fewer components and to improved quality and reliability”. Japanese electronics companies stressed on developing original new products, and have developed a work ethic that enabled their product engineers to explore new possibilities. For example, in the case of Sony, “engineers were free to do what they wanted; they concentrated on technology that was unrealistic or hard-to-commercialize. Sony was fit to develop new technologies. Sony's corporate culture was ‘free and open-minded’ and independent business units worked well”.

1. Why is the Japanese electronics industry no longer a success story?

Working on a principle of building products “more precisely and at a very high quality” (Adelstein & Stucky, 2012), Japanese products can last at least a decade before it would need maintenance. And yet, many market analysts today believe though Japan is able to make high...