Having observed trends in Japanese industries for a half century, I have never felt deeper concern about their future than at present. Many of Japan's leading enterprises that once dominated the global market are now suffering huge losses and lagging in performance behind competitors in South Korea, China and Taiwan.
Some put the blame on the strong yen and the persistence of deflation, but today's reality is that China has become the world's largest producer of automobiles, steel, TVs and personal computers, while Japanese firms have been outpaced by South Korean and Taiwanese rivals as suppliers of innovative products such as smartphones, 3D-TVs and their components.
Industrial growth depends to a great extent on the development of new technologies and products. Regrettably, Japanese companies are lagging behind their rivals in such efforts. The root cause of this lies in their declining capabilities for research and development.
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