National economic maturity and product innovation: the case of Japan Online publication date: Wed, 16-Jul-2003
by Motokazu Orihata
International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management (IJEIM), Vol. 1, No. 1, 2001
Abstract: This paper addresses the question of whether the maturation of a national economy - in this case Japan's - necessarily leads corporations to place greater emphasis upon product innovation as a competitive strategy and to change their methods of innovation management. The R&D expenditure by Japanese corporations rose consistently as maturation progressed; the effectiveness of such spending in stimulating consumer purchasing, however, has been declining. With the exception of a small group of companies such as Sony, Canon, Fuji Photo Film etc., product innovation management methods at Japanese corporations are still underdeveloped. Based upon the findings of empirical studies, the conclusion of this paper is that Japanese corporations, which have long emphasised process innovation while thinking little of product innovation, are now paying for this failure by being unable to extricate themselves from the current ten-year economic recession.
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