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A Study of Automobile Industry Innovation in Japan

Author: LiuMei
Tutor: RenMing
School: Jilin University
Course: World economy
Keywords: Japan Automotive Industry Innovation
CLC: F416.471
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2010
Downloads: 446
Quote: 3
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Abstract

A state in the absence of independent innovation capability, a lack of core competitiveness, is difficult to participate in economic globalization, and share the fruits of globalization. Automobile industry is a very high-tech industry, the automotive industry can not develop without innovation. The history of automotive development is a history of continuous innovation, which proves that whoever has the innovational ability, will have a development potential.China has become the world’s largest automobile production and sales country. However, largest is not equal to the most powerful. Low capability of independent innovation of China’s automotive industry has always been the biggest weak spot. Japanese automobile industry has also been known as a rising star. They start with imitation, which leads to independent research and development of automotive technology. Now that Japanese cars are popular all over the world, the study on their innovative ideas and supporting measures would definitely facilitate to promote China’s automobile industry.Developing for almost 60 years, Japan has ranked among the best for automobile output and export. Just-in-time manufacturing and comprehensive management over quality are the essentials for Japanese car manufacturers. They even edge over other developed countries to become a real giant in auto-industry.After the World War II, Japan’s automobile industry succeeded in achieving rapid growth and structural reformation, and established itself as the biggest manufacturer for automobile. Innovation has played an important role in the development.In 1950s, encouraged by Japanese government, many Japanese auto companies cooperated with European and American auto companies. Hence, the Japanese enterprises took 5 to 7 years, learning experiences from the leading companies worldwide in technology and manufacturing, and then created a national system of its own for automobile industry. Introducing the advanced technology and then adapting it for national industry, Japan has started to focus on self-innovation since the late 1950s. Enterprises intended to systematically build up the design theory and put more effort in upgrading the details, after they mastered the basics. They eventually shifted the industry from traditional to high-tech, which provide them with tremendous technical support to beat other leading countries. In the mid-70s, the Japanese auto companies enhanced rapidly their development capability. They gave up imitation and relied solely on internal forces. It proves that the Japanese companies have always been adhering to the principle of independence, and vigorously promoting Japanese automobiles, which raise their manufacturing ability to a new level, as well as create an efficient flexible system. Self-innovation gradually pushes forward Japan’s auto-industry, and enhances its international competitiveness, so that they can win in the fierce market competition.In the early 50s, cars from the United States and Europe overwhelmed the market in Japan. With the help from government, Japanese automobile companies managed to outclass their foreign rivals through practical marketing strategy. On the other hand,Japanese Government encouraged fair competition through market mechanisms, and the Japanese auto enterprises improved their innovation capacity through the fierce competition in the domestic market. Japanese Government also guided its own factories to develop new technologies, establishing the "national car program" to develop miniature, and low fuel consumption veichles. When the second oil crisis bursted out, Japan has already achieved prominent progress in energy-saving technology, which made Japanese cars popular home and abroad. Big companies like Toyota, Nissan, Fuji Heavy Industries, and Suzuki all grow to be world-class automobile manufacturers during this period.For a long time, Japan has been technology-oriented, especially during the mid-90s, they established their national policy of“Scientific and Technological Renovations”. They invested in research, trained personnel, created linkage between the industry and academic research, as well as praised the innovations in the society. All these built up a favorable environment for auto industry.Apart from that, the Japanese auto industry could not rise up without the auto companies’creations. Toyota is Japan’s largest automobile company. After 70 years development, Toyota has become the world’s automotive giant in new technology, new techniques, new services, as well as new markets and new forms of organization and management. The new system has undoubtedly set an excellent example for all companies. Enterprises are the principle components of a market. The competition about those companies mainly lies on the competition of innovative ability. Therefore, a number of companies with extraordinary innovation capability result in the glory of Japanese car industry.China has made certain progress on automobile industry, however, the lack of innovation ability has jeopardized the development. The experience of Japanese automakers tells us that,1. Must put more efforts in self-research and development. Do not rely on introducing foreign technology. It is not only for productivity increase, but also for technology improvement.2. Innovation and technological progress are the essentials for economic development. Sticking to technology innovation, and mastering the core of the automotive industry, can truly make our country a powerful country for automobile manufacturing.3. Positive industrial policy is also an effective measure for rapid development of automobile industry. It should focus on how to reduce direct government intervention to create a fair and reasonable environment in the country, and encouraging enterprises in self-innovation.4. Enterprise implements independent innovation. Thus the government should pay attention to their impact on national development, and try to rebuild the confidence of the companies.5. Technical innovation is not an isolated act of enterprises, it also depend on the national innovation system, which provides resources for technical innovation abilities. So strengthening the national innovation system would benefit the whole country to achieve better performance.6. Japan’s creation of low-power, low-emission vehicles gives them a huge advantage, after the world oil crisis and made them a great power in automobile industry. China should also seize this opportunity, and develop new energy vehicles in China should seize this opportunity to create in this new market.Currently independent innovation has become China’s national development strategies. Improving the ability of independent innovation has also become an important task of China’s economic development. We have already gained basics for self-innovation, however, still need to develop a better environment, which requires support from government that promotes the industry. This paper tries to make comparison between Japanese auto-industry with Chinese, using innovative economic theories. Based on the practical conditions in China, the paper makes suggestions for efficient measures to solve the problems. First of all, understand the importance of self-innovation in automotive industry. Second, provide references for research on new automobile technology. Last but not the least; improve my own knowledge from both theory and practice. And there are still many questions need to be solved.

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