ABSTRACT
This chapter provides specific details about the context in which cooperative technological ties were strengthened, and then directed toward increasingly ambitious forms of innovation in the late catch up/early frontier period in Japan. It presents an overview of changing conditions of competition in the postwar period in Japan, and the general changes in firm behavior designed to meet the new challenges. The book focuses on the rise of the computer and telecommunications industry in postwar Japan. It discusses some of the changes in structure and behavior that occurred in the leading firms in the emerging industry in response to the new technological requirements. The use of inter-enterprise cooperation for technological catch up and then early forms of innovation can be illustrated through an examination of the combined computer and telecommunications industry in Japan. Finally, the chapter explores the ways in which cooperative behavior changed as firms attempted to master and develops increasingly advanced technologies in the emerging industry.
