Leading without Followers

―The Puzzle of Japan’s “Galapagos” ICT Industry and the Political Economy of Commoditization―

January 17, 2014 6:30 PM (finished)


Kenji E. Kushida

(Takahashi Research Associate in Japanese Studies at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University)

Date/Time January 17, 2014 6:30 PM
Location Room 549 5th floor, Akamon Sogo Kenkyuto Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo　 [map]
Abstract In the mid-2000s, casual visitors to Japan would often marvel at the sophisticated Japanese mobile handsets and wonder, “When are we going to get that?” The answer, sadly, was “never.” Japan’s mobile communications market was advanced, but isolated. Unlike the automobile or machine tools industries, its advanced domestic industry did not lead to global prominence. Japan’s ICT industry was, in fact, a “leader without followers” by becoming a leader along technological trajectories expected by major players, only to be disrupted when the world’s technology trajectories abruptly shifted toward a new direction—time and time again. By analyzing Japan’s ICT industry in an international comparative perspective, I find that Japan’s ICT industry structure was critically different from other countries and regions. Network carriers emerged as industry leaders in Japan, versus communications equipment manufacturers elsewhere. Global competition was shaped by interaction between these different sets of domestic and regional winners. I then go a step further, showing how the politics of telecommunications liberalization around the world shaped the diverging industry structures at critical junctures. The result of the variety of political settlements around the world led to the global dynamics of competition we see unfolding—including the rapid rise of disruptors from the US computer and IT services industry, such as Apple and Google, that are rapidly commoditizing all other actors originating in the telecommunications industry.
Bio Kenji E. Kushida is the Takahashi Research Associate in Japanese Studies at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. Kushida’s research focuses on comparative political economy, particularly in the areas of information technology and comparative capitalist systems. His streams of research include commoditization in information technology sectors around the world, cloud computing, Japan-Korea comparisons in the broadband and wireless industries, Japan’s “Galapagos” IT sector, the Fukushima nuclear disaster, systemic change in Japan’s financial sector, the effects of multinational corporations in Japan, and Silicon Valley–Japan relationships. His book publications include Japan under the DPJ: The Politics of Transition and Governance (coedited with Phillip Y. Lipscy, APARC/Brookings 2013), Syncretism: The Politics of Economic Reform and System Change in Japan (coedited with Kay Shimizu and Jean Oi, APARC/Brookings 2013) and articles in journals including Socio-Economic Review, Social Science Japan Journal, Communications & Strategies, Japanese Political Economy, Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Asian Survey, and the Journal of Information Technology and Politics. Complete publications at www.kenjikushida.com.