Management of Technology and Innovation in Japan

306 G. Reger
Conclusions
The analyses presented here show the following main results: First, there is a
growing tendency to acquire technology from external sources throughout our
sample. The high reliance on external sources for technology of all companies investigated
is a very important change in the strategic management of technology
over the past decade and for the future. While there are very similar patterns of external
technological cooperation – customers, suppliers and universities are most
often mentioned – the motives to appropriate external technological knowledge
differ between the three regions considered. Obviously, technology-related cooperations
and horizontal and vertical networking even in core technologies have
even gained in importance. However, acquiring technology from external sources
has not been so familiar to the investigated North American firms in the past.
Other empirical research shows that cross-border technology-related alliances are
also of growing significance.
Second, the international generation of innovation and technology plays a very
important role in the strategies of the large companies analyzed and the data show
that this will gain further momentum in the future. The western European firms
are in the forefront of this development, whereas the North American firms are
catching up. Further, the internationalization of R&D is still strongly confined to
the Triad regions and is not global – so the development regarding R&D is better
described by 'triadization'. There are strong differences between the North American,
Japanese and Western European companies investigated (see Tab. 2):
Firstly, Japanese companies still lag behind the overall trend of R&D investment
in foreign countries: the share of R&D budget spent abroad is rather low
compared with the other firms investigated. Further, the geographical diversification
of R&D activities in own labs is limited strongly to North America as well as
to Western Europe and Asia/ Pacific. The motives to invest abroad are driven by
learning aspects (learning from lead markets/ customers and keeping abreast of
technological know in foreign countries) and the wish to get access to skilled researchers.
There seems to be no single dominant role for the R&D units – all four
roles exist with the R&D unit performing the same activities as domestic R&D facilities
is on the first rank. Compared to the companies from the other two regions
R&D units which conduct basic and applied research play a more prominent role.
Further, the R&D units abroad seem to be more strictly controlled: non-home-base
R&D activities are not independent what and how they do their job. Technology
transfer across borders is mainly done by using person-oriented coordination
mechanisms.
Secondly, North American companies spent more of their R&D budget abroad.
The geographical diversification is the highest among the companies investigated:
North American firms have own R&D activities strongly in western Europe but
also in Japan, Asia/ Pacific, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. The motives to
invest abroad are driven by adapting products to local requirements, supporting
production facilities abroad and the wish to get access to skilled researchers. The
dominant roles for the R&D units abroad are performing the same activities as the