Computer-Co and Electric-Co: The Pursuit of Design and Development Capabilities
Computer-Co and Electric-Co: The Pursuit of Design and Development Capabilities
This chapter considers a firm exceptional among Japanese inward investors in its systematic commitment to local design and development capabilities. The Japanese parent company bought a local firm with innovative products and technical expertise, and sought to engineer new synergies between the distinctive professional competencies of Japanese and British technical staff. Local management were granted considerable operational autonomy to pursue this objective, but ultimately they failed because of intense international competition and a programme of parent company rationalization. This chapter develops a detailed analysis of the rescue, restructuring, and eventual closure of the subsidiary, tracing the selective appropriation and melding of national, corporate, and sector management approaches that were involved. On this basis, it explores the scope, vicissitudes, and limits of developing such local research, design, development, and production capabilities, illuminating the conditions under which inward investors may upgrade their research and development capabilities or concentrate their resources elsewhere.
Keywords: company rationalization, international competition, operational autonomy, professional competencies, rescue, sector management approaches, technical expertise
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