ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to offer a study of the influence of Americanization on Japanese electronics firms from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. Looking back on the history of Japanese electronics firms, it is hard to deny the enormous influence of American enterprise. For example, the NEC Corporation was founded as a subsidiary of Western Electric in 1899, and General Electric Co. tied up with Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric Co.) in 1905 and Shibaura Seisakusho (Shibaura Engineering Works) in 1909.1
The establishment of subsidiaries such as these and the signing of various technology agreements helped spur the pace of technology transfer for electro-mechanical and management technologies. Japan’s electromechanical and electronics industry developed in no small measure through so-called Americanization.2
