Was it Claude Levy-Strauss (in "Tristes Tropiques"?) who wrote that the rise and fall of civilisations goes in a westerly direction: the Mid-East, then Europe, then America, then Japan (about to rise at the time of his writing, in the 1950s). Extending this observation: ... then China and India. And then?
From the Nikkei website:
Monday, June 4, 2001
ANALYSIS: Japan Losing IT Edge To Rest Of Asia
TOKYO (Nikkei)--Japanese companies have been shifting
production to other parts of Asia to take advantage of the region's
cheaper labor costs ever since the domestic economy began to
slump as the yen appreciated sharply in the 1980s.
Recently, however, there have been some changes to the type of
operations being moved offshore, with an increasing number of firms
transferring research and development, once considered the
epitome of Japanese industrial excellence.
Kaga Components Co., a Tokyo maker and seller of switching
power units, plans to build comprehensive manufacturing operations
in Malaysia by the end of this fiscal year, handling product
development through to production of finished goods, after setting
up a production unit in the country in fiscal 2000.
"Many major Japanese electric machinery makers have production
units in Malaysia. We are being forced to move R&D operations
there to supply parts that meet customer needs," a company
executive said in explaining the move.
Kaga Components thought its biggest challenge would be recruiting
skilled engineers, but that proved easier than thought. The state of
Penang, where the company set up its local unit, is the hub of
Malaysia's high-tech industry and has a plentiful supply of skilled
engineers.
China, India and other Asian countries are becoming major
providers of skilled labor in cutting-edge industries. According to a
survey by the Fuji Research Institute, 1.1 million university/college
students enrolled in science and engineering-related courses in
India in 1998. In China, the number was around 900,000 in 1999.
These figures compare with 280,000 science majors graduating in
the U.S. in 1992 and 150,000 in Japan in 1994.
Japan may still lead the world in manufacturing but is beginning to
fall behind the U.S., Europe and some Asian countries, such as
South Korea, in software development and other IT fields. In South
Korea, former researchers at major local companies and returnees
who studied in the U.S. have been thriving in the Internet-related
business.
Japan is also lagging its neighbors in use of the Internet. Despite
the government's declaration that it will work toward making Japan
an IT superpower, only 20% of Japanese people enjoy regular
access to the Net, far below the 30-40% range for Singapore, South
Korea and Hong Kong.
With the declining standard of science and engineering education
and the slow progress of deregulation, some experts now worry that
Japan's standing in the industrial world will begin to decline, unless
remedial action is taken.
(The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Saturday morning edition) |
