Searching for a New Role in East Asian Regionalization : Japanese Production Networks in the Electronics Industry

This chapter introduces a few conceptual building blocks that we need to capture the interactions between international business organization and regionalization. It also describes the growing dependence of Japan's electronics industry on Asia; explores how Japanese electronics firms are searching for ways to expand and upgrade their regional production networks, with China as the main prize; and examines constraints to change. I highlight peculiar features of the Japanese network management model in East Asia that once may have reflected strength. Now these very same features have turned into systemic weaknesses, as they constrain the capacity of Japanese firms to cope with and shape East Asia's increasingly complex processes of regionalization. The chapter concludes with an illustrative example of how some Japanese electronics firms are seeking to turn around gradually their EAPNs, by developing strategic alliances with emerging new industry leaders in Asia, primarily from China