Transcript Japan
Japan
Assessment for IT Capability
Japan’s Political Makeup – Unitary
Constitutional Monarchy
Legislature - Parliament
House of Representatives
(480)
House of Councillors (242)
Executive
Prime Minister – elected by
Legislature
Cabinet – appointed by Prime
Minister – usually members of
Parliament
Judiciary – 5 Levels of Courts
Appointed by the Cabinet
Political Parties
Political Parties present in Parliament
Liberal Democratic Party
Democratic Party of Japan
New Clean Government Party
Japan Communist Party
Socialist Democratic Party
Conservative New Party
Government Promotion of IT
METI – Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry
Creates policies related to:
Electronic Commerce Promotion
Personal Information Protection
Electronic Government
R&D
Human Resource Development
Information Security
Incentives offered for companies investing in IT
research
Low Interest Rates
Tax breaks
Expert advice
Barriers to IT Diffusion
Low Foreign Investment
State Owned Services
Delivery
Insurance
Financial
Barrier to IT Diffusion – Foreign
Investment
Lowest foreign direct investment out of G8
members
Low investment amount attributed to Japan’s
historical view that foreign investment is a
threat
Government is looking for ways to actively
promote investment, realizing its importance
Foreign investment has risen sharply recently,
although still low comparatively
Barrier to IT Diffusion – State Owned
Services
Privatization is relatively extensive, except for
the Japan Post which is state owned
Postal Delivery
Insurance Services
Banking (Savings)
Privatization of Japan Post to begin in 2007
Heavily debated
Restriction of IT Ownership
Restrictions are minimal
NTT – National Telephone Company
33% foreign ownership cap
Largest Cable TV Company (Juniper) is
majority-owned by a US Firm
Japan’s Copyright Laws
Robust and strict, similar to the U.S.
Exceptions:
Teachers can reproduce copyrighted works in
the interest of teaching (TV and Audio only)
Free reproduction of news is permitted
S/W can be reproduced for personal use
Copy protected CD’s and Digital Private
Recording fees (DVD-RW recorders, etc)
exist
Educational System
99% of population is literate
IT literacy is also widespread
2002 – 57.2 million Internet Users
12 million Internet Hosts
Language
Knowledge of English
30% of elementary students
All Junior and High school students
20% of population read English newspapers,
magazines, or watch English TV
Written symbols
More than 256
Made up of characters and Syllabaries
Japanese Culture
Hofstede MAS – 91
High degree of gender differentiation
Hofstede UAI – 89
Low tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity
Hofstede PDI – 50
Doesn’t stress extreme equality or inequality
Hofstede IND – 42
Mid to low individualism – group still more
important than the individual
IT Diffusion
Phones
71.15 million land lines (2002)
86.6 million cell phones (2003)
119 per 100 people (2002) 29th in the world
Computers
38.2 per 100 people (2005)
21st in the world
TV
10.5 million cable subscribers
Growing 20% a year
3 million satellite subscribers
Internet
57.2 million subscribers 12 million hosts (2002)
44.9 per 100 people 17th in the world (2002)
Electronic Commerce / EDI
Considered an important and relevant topic
Issued joint statements on EC with:
United States
United Kingdom
Australia
METI considers EC a critical initiative
Digital / Fiber Network Infrastructure
High speed networks are readily and cheaply
available
IT Strategy Council formed in 2000 by PM
Goal was to make Japan the “World’s Leading IT
Nation by 2005”
Cornerstone of plan was broadband connections
Today fiber (ultra-broadband) is available to most (16
times faster than connections in US)
Broadband (DSL / Cable) is available to all
May 2003 the percentage of Japan households
containing broadband surpassed the U.S.
Native Software Industry
Second largest market in the world for IT
products and services
Still imports 40% of all software
Lack of industry standard and great number
of characters cause software problems –
multi-bits needed for one character
Factory assembly methods have been
successfully implemented in software
development
Multilingual programmers in great demand
Native Hardware Industry
Robust with mature hardware firms including:
Sony
Fuji Electronics
NEC
Fujitsu
Joint Ventures
Keiretsu System – close and stable
partnering relationship designed to benefit
both companies involved, but considered
temporary
Prefer joint ventures as opposed to wholly
owned subsidiaries, particularly when barriers
to entry are high.
Economy
Third largest economy in purchasing power
parity, second on a nominal basis
Stock Market
Tokyo Stock Exchange
Second largest exchange in monetary value to
the NYSE
Currently lists 2,383 companies
GNP Per Capita
$42,000 USD
Future Outlook
18th in Information Society Index (2005)
16th in Global Information Technology Report
ranking IT readiness (2005)
Currently in a position to leverage IT with
ubiquitous broadband access and a
technology-savvy population
Can benefit from a greater amount of foreign
investment and privatization of remaining
state sponsored industries