Intellectual Japan: from mono zukuri to brain country

Intellectual Japan – BBC: “Japan has to become a brain country” – from mono zukuri to brain country

Intellectual Japan: Japan’s electronics companies need new business models – interview for the BBC

The BBC recently examined why Japan’s electronics sector has to create new business models, and quotes “Japan has to become a brain country”.

Japan’s top 8 electronics companies combined are as large as the Netherlands economically, but have shown zero growth and zero income over the last 14 years – thus represent “sleeping giants” – or dinosaurs, depending on the point of view, and depending on whether these companies succeed to reinvent themselves.

We have updated our report on “Japan’s electronic manufacturers: mono zukuri” to analyze Japan’s electronics manufacturing sector, and to explain who the winners and who the losers are. Read a short summary in this newsletter below.

Japan's electronics companies combined are as large as Holland economically
Japan’s electronics companies combined are as large as Holland economically

Japan’s top electronics companies combined are as large as the Netherlands economically, but have not shown any revenue growth over the last 14 years

Japan’s electronics sector still today is largely guided by national industrial policy, and by the management principles created long ago by charismatic founders such as Matsushita and Ibuka.

Intellectual Japan: smart transformation at Hitachi led by the CEO and by the Chief Transformation Officer CTrO

Hitachi’s “Chief Transformation Officer” (“CTrO”) at a recent presentation, explained that until 2 years ago Hitachi benchmarked its financial data purely domestically – until 2 years ago, Hitachi only compared performance with competitors such as Panasonic and Toshiba.

Only 2 years ago, Hitachi started to benchmark performance with global competitors such as GE and Siemens.

Read a summary of Hitachi’s “Smart Transformation project” in our electronics industry report.

Japan's top 8 electronics companies combined lose YEN 50 billion/year since 1998
Japan’s top 8 electronics companies combined lose YEN 50 billion/year since 1998

Japan’s top 8 electronics companies lost an average of YEN 50 billion/year over the last 14 years

Intellectual Japan: electronic component makers

Japan’s electronics component makers, such as Kyocera or Murata, which is on the official supplier list of Apple, report positive income – although margins are declining and the component industry sector is much smaller than the top 8 electronics manufacturers.

Drastic transformation is necessary to revive Japan’s electronics industry sector. Drastic change will happen one way or another and represents important opportunities. More details in our electronics industry report

Japan electronics industries – mono zukuri.

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