Reprogramming Japan : the high tech crisis under communitarian capitalism / Marie Anchordoguy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Anchordoguy, Marie, author.

Series:

Cornell studies in political economy.

Cornell studies in political economy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

High technology industries--Japan.

High technology industries.

Capitalism--Social aspects--Japan.

Capitalism.

Industrial policy--Japan.

Industrial policy.

Japan--Economic conditions--1989-.

Japan.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (275 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, New York : Cornell University Press, 2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

How have state policies influenced the development of Japan's telecommunications, computer hardware, computer software, and semiconductor industries and their stagnation since the 1990's? Marie Anchordoguy's book examines how the performance of these industries and the economy as a whole are affected by the socially embedded nature of Japan's capitalist system, which she calls "communitarian capitalism."Reprogramming Japan shows how the institutions and policies that emerged during and after World War II to maintain communitarian norms, such as the lifetime employment system, seniority-based wages, enterprise unions, a centralized credit-based financial system, industrial groups, the main bank corporate governance system, and industrial policies, helped promote high tech industries. When conditions shifted in the 1980's and 1990's, these institutions and policies did not suit the new environment, in which technological change was rapid and unpredictable and foreign products could no longer be legally reverse-engineered.Despite economic stagnation, leaders were slow to change because of deep social commitments. Once the crisis became acute, the bureaucracy and corporate leaders started to contest and modify key institutions and practices. Rather than change at different times according to their specific economic interests, Japanese firms and the state have made similar slow, incremental changes.

Contents:

The dynamics of communitarian capitalism

Norms and institutions

Telephone titan

Telecommunications : obsolete institutions

Computers : cooperation or competition?

Software : programmed for failure

Semiconductors : from boom to bust

Crisis in communitarian capitalism.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781501700859

1501700855

9781501700866

1501700863

OCLC:

918941305