ABSTRACT
Only since the late 1960s has much attention been paid in Japan to the location of business core functions and to their role within the regional structure of the national economy. The rapid expansion of heavy industry from the mid 1950s to the early 1970s led inevitably to the growth of large corporations within key industrial sectors and the formation of an oligopolistic national economy. Internationalization and the emergence of an information-oriented society have made information-collecting functions even more necessary for corporations, and research and development (R&D) functions are expected to play a decisive role in competition between rivals both at home and overseas. As a result, the location of business core functions has attracted widespread attention in the 1980s, particularly with the publication of two significant government regional policies: the technopolis plan and the fourth comprehensive national development plan (CNDP).
