Emerging patterns of innovation

by Fumio Kodama

Kodama uses the concept of a techno-paradigm shift to express the radical changes in the way technology has been and continues to be developed, applied, and commercialized over time. In analyzing data gathered over ten years of intensive research and study of Japanese firms, he distinguishes six dimensions along which the shift is occurring: manufacturing, business diversification, R&D competition, product development, innovation pattern, and societal diffusion of technology. He illuminates his discussion of each dimension with a profile of specific technologies and the companies that have advanced them, including consumer electronics (Sony and Toshiba), fiber optic cables (Sumitomo Electric), computers and communications equipment (NEC), machine tools (Fanuc), and automobile parts (Honda, Toyota, and Nissan). The concepts presented in Emerging Patterns of Innovation not only have implications for the competitive strategies of non-Japanese firms and the economic policies of their corre