The ‘Flying Geese’ Paradigm of Catch-up Growth
Chapter 5: Knowledge-Driven Stage – and Logic – of Catch-up Growth
5.1. ‘CREATED’ RESOURCES As early as the 1960s, the Japanese government launched major efforts to scale the ladder of industrial upgrading toward the next rung of knowledgedriven growth (the ‘Schumpeterian’ phase). It seeded new growth industries through a variety of measures, such as stepped-up efforts to acquire cuttingedge technology from overseas under license, setting up cooperative research programs between government and industry, and cajoling those foreign multinationals (for example, IBM) then already operating in Japan to disseminate new technology to local firms. Government–industry research collaboration in particular was instrumental in enabling Japan to emerge as a dominant producer of high-quality semiconductors (microchips) before long. Semiconductors were considered so vital that they came to be regarded as ‘sangyo no kome’ (the rice/staple of industry) in Japan. No effort was, therefore, spared to develop through industrial policy semiconductor electronics, simultaneously with the domestic computer industry that needed the semiconductors. Both of these would become the key foundations for knowledge-driven, high-tech industries. (In fact, Japan’s semiconductor industry would celebrate its coming of age in the early 1980s with its dominance in the field of LSI semiconductors surpassing the United States.) In the meantime, consumer electronics, which was developed by Japanese entrepreneurs practically without any help from the government, spearheaded the growth of Japan’s electronics production and exports. Early on, transistor radios and television sets were the major initiators of this industry in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. They served as catapults for a host of related electronics goods. Japan’s consumer...
You are not authenticated to view the full text of this chapter or article.
Elgaronline requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books or journals. Please login through your library system or with your personal username and password on the homepage.
Non-subscribers can freely search the site, view abstracts/ extracts and download selected front matter and introductory chapters for personal use.
Your library may not have purchased all subject areas. If you are authenticated and think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.