Japan VS US consumer tech
...ason were never sued for anti-trust laws (anti-trust laws protect businesses from monopolies and other business practices that restrain trade). The new millennium will be a different story for Japan to remain successful in the consumer electronics market. Japan’s economic depression, new competition from Asia, a government that doesn’t promote entrepreneurship, and a high-tech boom in the United States will ultimately lead to Japan’s downfall as the king of electronics. These factors coupled with the ignorance of Japanese companies that were too hard at work perfecting their video games, televisions, CD players, and other electronics to realize the commercial potential of the personal computer. Ignoring the personal computer market made Japanese companies almost too late to get their foot in the door for the next electronic revolution. Although Japan dominated computer chips and circuit board designs, the personal computer market for the most part has been untouched by Japanese businesses. Computer hardware and software is dominated by American businesses. One reason Japan is not so well versed in computer technology is due to the weak link between university research and businesses. Vital developments and advances in technology are the result from university research, yet Japanese businesses would rather fund their own research. On the other hand, American businesses utilize this cheap yet invaluable form of research through universities. The vast amounts of high-tech research American universities have accomplished has resulted in a major concentration of high-tech business start-ups in the surrounding areas. Silicon Valley in California, Route 128 in Boston, and the Research Triangle in North Carolina are just a few of the hot spots around the U.S. that will prove to be fierce competition for Japan. Back in the 1990’s the United States quickly shot out of a technology slump by commercializing the Internet. The Internet created an economic boom and has reshaped new consumer technologies. During this time period, venture capital was very abundant and the entrepreneurial spirit of America kicked into gear. New high-tech and Internet related business start-ups were popping up everywhere. Although many of these businesses eventually failed, the businesses that did make it were usually the first to the market and have claimed dominance in market share leaving little or no room for competition. Unfortunately Japanese businesses were too slow to react to the pace at which the Internet was developing and are now left trying to rethink their strategy. The Internet has already and will continue to change they way people in an industrialized nation live. New consumer technologies will have to adapt to the Internet and the PC (personal computer) as a whole. The PC used to be a big beige box that was only used for work and school related activities. The Internet has transformed the once boring PC into a sleek digital hub that is now the center of attention in many households. The television and DVD/VCR are slowly being replaced by PC media centers (media centers are PCs that allow you to watch and record live TV, play music, and connect to the internet). Compact Discs are becoming obsolete as more and more music is downloaded from the Internet. Cellular Phones are now connected to PCs so people can share pictures, video/sound clips, and text messages. Every new consumer electronic appliance is already or will be connected to the home PC. This is great news for tech junkies, but bad news for big Japanese businesses that have yet to find their niche in the competitive world of PCs. As the PC becomes the media center of the house, large HDTV flat screens will replace traditional computer monitors. Currently there are two types of flat screens, Plasma or LCD, and Japanese companies are putting their money into developing Plasma screens. Plasma screens provide beautiful graphics for video but don’t offer the clarity and crispness for static images and text. LCDs can provide the best of both worlds and this is why American computer companies like Dell and Gateway are offering LCD screens over plasma. The Plasma/LCD race is too early to tell which one will dominate the market, but computer manufactures are on the right track offering the LCD screens bundled with a computer because some consumers might be hesitant of buying a third party product. If the business model for LCDs with computer manufacturers holds true, Japan will once again loose out on gaining a foothold in a new technology. The music sector of consumer electronics is where Japan has lost most of their market share to American businesses. The glory days of the Sony Walkman have long passed. The Internet has once again changed how we listen to music and an unsuspecting player, Apple Computer, has changed this industry. Since the Internet boom, Apple has been spending a lot of time on user interface and industrial design. Part of the design plan was to make the new line of Mac computers as a digital multimedia hub for the home. An extension of that hub is the Apple iPod, which is fully integrated with Apple’s iTunes music software. The iPod is now the dominant leader in MP3 players commanding over 70% of the market. Japanese businesses have failed miserably at the portable music sector, especially Sony. Sony did not want to use the standard MP3 files for music and wanted to use removable MiniDiscs to store the music. Because Sony didn’t want to use industry standards, their next generation music player never caught on and was a huge flop that hasn’t regained any ground since. The problems plaguing Japan’s once dominant electronic giants have resulted in some major restructuring from within. The Sony Corporation has done something that is highly frowned upon in the Japanese business culture; hire a foreigner to head the company. American Howard Stringer was selected as Sony’s new CEO to revive the company. Sony isn’t the only electronics giant in Japan facing hard times. Matsushita (Panasonic), Toshiba, Fujitsu, and Hitachi are all loosing market share and cannot get back on top. One of the problems lies within the management and strict culture within the Japanese business world. It is shameful for a Japanese company to sell their business off to a foreigner. Management is very rigid and tries to avoid risks at all cost. This is why many Japanese products never make it to the US because they failed in Japan’s test markets. Management also maintains strict loyalty to all the employees. It is very rare occurrence if a Japanese company will lay employees off even though the business is loosing money. Japanese companies also do not like to outsource their jobs because they would rather keep all the work done in-house. These factors lead to high o...