Japanese Electronics Brands Losing their Power in International Market

Transcription

1 1 Japanese Electronics Brands Losing their Power in International Market Introduction I decided to research about this topic, because when my father changed his phone to iphone by Apple computer, I realized I was surrounded by more and more electronics which are not Japanese brands. This is especially true for mobile phones. I used to use Japanese phones, but now I am using an American brand the same as the portable music player that I have. I realized that many other things around me are not Japanese brands. So I wondered if the Japanese electronics brands are losing their power in the industry. In this report, I will look at the worlds electronic markets by different products and find out if the Japanese brands are losing their power and if so, why. Review plan Looking back at my previous cycle, I think my report writing has improved a lot. That is because I got used to writing research diaries. Research diaries are very important for reports. If the research diary is not good, you will never able to write a good report. Looking back at my old research diaries, it is very difficult to understand and most of them are just copying the article. But now, I am writing them in my own words. My speed of reading the articles also got faster. But one of my points that I want fix is I want to spend more time on research diaries and make them more detailed. Starting questions and interest My starting interest for this cycle is on a Japanese electronics industry. The Japanese electronics industry used to be in the world s top position. But now, many of those companies that used to be on top are now struggling with the competition with the world s electronic companies. So my questions are: Which specific parts of the

2 2 electronic industry are declining? Which particular companies are declining? These are my starting questions. I hope I will come up with more specific questions while I do my research. Research diary December 7 th For my first research in this cycle, I researched about the flat screen TV market. In the article that I read, I found out that Korean companies are rapidly growing their share in this market. That is because they succeeded to realize the balance of the cost and the quality. Japanese products were always popular because of their high quality but the price wasn t so low. Korean companies such as Samsung electronics and LG are now the world s two biggest flat screen TV makers (Korea Herald, 2011). It was very interesting that Korean makers were doing well but not Chinese electronics companies. I expected Chinese companies to be taking over Japan s position. So I got very interested in Korean companies. After this round of research, I came up with few more questions. I want to know more about the Korean based electronic companies, especially Samsung electronics. So in the next stage of my research, I want to research a market where Korean companies are in the top position. That will probably smartphone market. I will research about the development of Korean companies and the position of Japanese companies in the smartphone market. December 14 th In my second week of research, I researched about the smartphone market. As a result, I found out that a Korean company is again the top maker (Business week, 2011). Apple computer s iphone is probably the most famous smartphone in the world, but Apple computer is not the biggest maker. Samsung is again the top maker. But the important

3 3 thing is not about which company is on the top. It s about the position of Japanese companies. Of course Japanese companies are not doing well in the worldwide market, but surprisingly, it is also the same in the domestic market. Apple computer and Samsung electronics are the two leading companies. SHARP comes third, which is the highest position among Japanese companies (Business Week, 2011). That was because Japan was one step behind from other countries to start using smartphones. My next interest is about another industry that Japan could be in the top position, which is probably the Robotics industry. I want to know why we are in the top and how we can maintain the position. I want to continue my research with these questions. January 2 nd Japan used to dominate most of the fields in electronics industry, but it is different these days. Many industries are now dominated by South Korea and other countries (Business Week, 2011). So in which field is Japan still in the top? It is the Robotics industry. Japan has the highest technology in this field. One of the reasons is that Japan hosts a number of international robot competition like Robo Cup, Robo Con and so on. Japan also tops the world in the number of industrial robots in operation, boasting a one-third share in this field (Nikkeicho, 2011). These robot technologies are also helping the tragedy in the Fukushima Number one Nuclear Power Plant. In those places where human beings can t enter because of the high radiation rate, the robot will enter and do the operation there. These technologies are used in many other places. One is used as a robot to release the elderly people from loneliness and another is used as a robot to manufacture products such as automobiles. Japan is dominating this field not only by its technologies and number of robots, but also by its significant ideas. So we can say that Japan does have a high quality of technology in every field of electronics, but doesn t

4 4 have enough ideas. If Japan came up with unique ideas like the use of robots, Japan still have chance to come back on the top position. Conclusion Japanese brands are losing their power because of the lack of international view. When Japan was leading the market, we didn t have to worry about other countries because the Japanese standard was the world s standard. However, when the other countries like South Korea started to rise, we could not go our way but have to follow their standards. For example, Japanese electronics companies couldn t lead the smartphone market because they didn t look at the worldwide market but only cared about the domestic market. So Japanese companies has to admit that Japan is not leading the world any more, and they have to follow the world standard. For example, they have to start making more cheap products. It will be very hard for them to do that, but that is probably the only way to survive through the world market. To research this issue further, these are some important questions to consider. The first question is about the software market. Will America dominate the market and won t allow other countries to enter the market. And those Japanese companies have any chance of competing with the American companies like Apple and Google. And another question is, about the Robotic technologies of other countries. Which country has the highest technology beside Japan, and are they threating the Japanese companies? This question will help me improve my research and deepen my understanding in this field. References Have Japanese brands lost their way? (BBC, 21 st November 2011) Robot Technology Hold the Key to a Bright Future for Japan (Nikkeicho, May 2011)

5 5 Samsung Tops Apple to Become World s No. 1 Smartphone Maker (Business Week, November 7 th 2011) Samsung, LG grab top spots in global flat-panel TV market (Korea Herald, November 21 st 2011) Samsung TVs feel the squeeze (Financial Times, November 24 th 2011) 04R9tPZ