Technological innovation and the formation of Japanese technology: the case of the machine tool industry

This paper attempts to analyze how “the Japanese technology” was formed in the Japanese machine tool industry, and also presents how Japanese machine tool builders competed in R&D and innovation in the domestic as well as international markets. During the competition for innovation of CNC, drastic changes in the rank order of individual firms in terms of amount of production occurred. Prior to the transformation, the “Big 5” companies with a long tradition occupied the largest market share. After the innovation, however, the “Big 3” firms which were not big in size at their origins increased their market share tremendously. This paper explained how this drastic change stemmed from the viewpoint of different attitudes towards R&D and innovation