Japanese electronics firms such as Panasonic, Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba have set up a wide array of factories, sales offices and management offices over the past 35 years. This study focuses on how their strategies have changed since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Theoretically, Japanese companies should now have a greater opportunity of increasing local sales and expanding their market share based on unique technologies and brand power. The investigation is based on interviews in Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai and Beijing with 15 major firms in consumer and industrial electronics. The results indicate that while Japanese companies expanded their operations over the past 10 years or so, they face many difficulties in penetrating the Chinese market, including competition from Korean and Taiwanese companies, as well as Chinese firms. Indeed, for many Japanese electronics makers the traditional objective of entering China in order to take advantage of `cheap wage’ export-oriented production to markets outside the country remains the most important function. Panasonic, however, has set itself apart from the others by opening Lifestyle Research Centres in Shanghai and Taipei and attempting to focus on designing local products to match consumer household needs.
Sponsor: Centre for Japanese Research, Department of Asian Studies
By: Professor David W. Edgington, Department of Geography
Type: Event
