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Japan Consumer Electronics
The industries producing consumer electronics--audio
receivers,
compact disc players, other audio components, tape
recorders,
television receivers, video cassette recorders, and video
cameras--
were major exporters, and in the 1980s they invested
overseas as
well. In 1991, 46.7 percent of color televisions produced
in Japan
were exported, as were 87.3 percent of video cassette
recorders.
Some of these products had too small an export share to
show up
separately in summary trade data, but audio tape recorders
represented 2.9 percent of total Japanese exports in 1988,
video
cassette recorders 2.3 percent, radio receivers 0.8
percent, and
television receivers 0.7 percent, for a total of 6.7
percent.
All of these industries built on Japan's success in
developing
commercial applications for the transistor in the 1950s
and the
succeeding generations of semiconductor devices of the
1970s and
1980s. Most of this output came from large integrated
electronics
firms, which manufactured semiconductor devices, consumer
electronics, and computers. Their international success
came from
continually pushing miniaturization and driving down
manufacturing
costs through innovations in the manufacturing process.
Mainly because of Japanese industry's success, the
United
States consumer electronics industry withered. During the
1970s,
Japanese inroads in the United States market for color
television
receivers sparked charges of dumping and other predatory
practices.
These disputes led to Orderly Marketing Arrangements
(voluntary
export restraints) by Japan in 1977, which limited exports
of color
televisions to 1.75 million units annually between 1977
and 1980.
While this agreement afforded some protection to the
United States
domestic industry, Japanese firms responded by investing
in the
United States. By the end of the 1980s, only one United
Statesowned television manufacturer remained; the others had
disappeared
or had been bought by West European or Japanese firms.
Other products for the consumer electronics market did
not
become as controversial as color televisions, partly
because Japan
had pioneered the products. Video cassette recorders,
video
cameras, and compact disc players were all developed for
the
consumer market by Japanese firms, and no United
States-owned firms
were involved in their manufacture in the 1980s.
Japanese overseas investment in the consumer
electronics
industry was motivated by protectionism and labor costs.
Protectionism was the main motivation for Japanese firms
to
establish color television plants in the United States. By
1980,
after the three years of voluntary export restraints,
seven
Japanese firms had located plants in the United States. In
addition, Japanese firms retained production of the most
technologically advanced products at home, while shifting
production of less advanced products to developing
countries such
as Taiwan. For these reasons, Japanese export of color
televisions
fell during the 1980s, from 2 percent of total exports in
1970 to
only 0.7 percent in 1988.
Data as of January 1994
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