International Comparison of IT innovation and analysis of Japanese electronics firm's business strategy

本研究从产业层面和企业层面两个层面对日本电子企业的国际竞争力进行评价。在行业分析方面，我们构建了以中国、韩国、台湾和日本等亚洲国家为重点的电子产品可比数据库。此外，本文还对日本企业2020年前的经营战略进行了经济模型分析。该模型由三个步骤组成，即(1)估计最终产品的需求函数，(2)得出零部件需求，(3)按产品类别预测日本企业的份额。在企业层面的分析中，我们构建了财务账户与专利的联动数据，以考察产品和技术战略。20世纪90年代末，日本电子集团S在“精选”和“集中”的过程中，精简了业务线，但仍在广泛的技术领域进行投资。研究发现，具有共同技术背景的业务线多元化会带来更好的绩效，从而使日本企业能够维持其集团化战略，但应专注于基于共同技术实力的领域。

In this study, international competitiveness of Japanese electronics firms are evaluated by both industry and firm level analysis. In industry analysis, we have constructed the comparable database of electronics focusing on Asian countries, such as China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan. In addition, economic model analysis is created for simulation of Japanese firms' business strategy until 2020. The model is consisted by three steps, i.e., (1) estimating demand function of final products, (2) derivation of component demand and (3) forecasting of the share of Japanese firms by product category. In firm level analysis, we have constructed the linkage data of financial account and patent to investigate in product and technology strategy. In process of "selection" and "concentration" in the late 1990's, Japanese electronics conglomerate streamlined the number of business lines, but still invested on wide range of technology fields. It is found that diversification in business lines which are common technology background gives better performance, so that the Japanese firms can sustain its conglomerate strategy, but should focus on the areas which are based on common technology strength.