Reindustrialization and Technology in East Asia: Technology Synergy of Japanese Upstream Industry in Global Supply Chain

In recent years, along with hollowing out of industry, deindustrialization has become a critical problem in the United States, Europe and Japan. In addition, manufacturing bases in Taiwan and South Korea have been transferred to China, these East Asian newly industrialized countries also are facing similar problem. As the development of globalization, Japanese downstream industry such as LCD (liquid crystal display) industry is facing fierce catch up phenomena of South Korean, Taiwanese and Chinese manufactures. Many factories of Japanese LCD manufacturers were automatically forced to shut down. However, their suppliers: Japanese upstream firms such as electronic component and equipment suppliers maintain their technological competitiveness and offer added value unsurpassed by Taiwanese and South Korean counterparts. In this study, through a comparative analysis between Japanese and Taiwanese LCD industry, I try to illustrate a positive effect of technological synergy on Japanese competitiveness of upstream business. Responding to the change of market, existing matured industrial technology shifts to the emerging industries, and promotes the growth of the rising industry. This is the power of technological synergy. The company which accumulated the experience of technological synergy in a long time is easy to create added value of technology. Manufacturing industry which can create added value of technology increased, this trend will lead to the reindustrialization of the region. In the process of East Asian capitalism, manufacturing industry in China is growing significantly. The experience of reindustrialization in Japanese upstream industry would be an important suggestive implication for manufacturing industry in Taiwan.