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The State and Industrial Followers: Japanese Versus French Computer Strategy, 1960s–1980s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Alan Siaroff  and
Clement Lee
Alan Siaroff
Affiliation:
Political Science, University of British ColumbiaC472-1866 Main Mall Vancouver, BC, CanadaV6T IZI Fax: (1) 604 822 5540 E-Mail: Siaroff@unixg.ubc.ca
Clement Lee
Affiliation:
Political Science, University of British ColumbiaC472-1866 Main Mall Vancouver, BC, CanadaV6T IZI Fax: (1) 604 822 5540 E-Mail: Siaroff@unixg.ubc.ca
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Abstract

Within the advanced capitalist world, Japan and France have normally been the main examples of strong, interventionist states. From the 1960s onwards, government policy in each nation attempted to cultivate a domestically based computer industry in response to American dominance. This seemed to be parallel cases of strong states attempting to target an industry in order to catch up. However, by the start of the 1980s it was clear that French policy had failed, whereas Japan was relatively successful. We explain this difference by stressing that Japanese policy was ultimately more market conforming. This occurred because Japanese companies were less dependent on government financing and procurement for their business compared to French counterparts. In short, the Japanese state had less power over its domestic computer companies than did the French state. This national difference in ‘state strength’, i.e., state-business power relations, accounts for a negotiated pattern of industrial restructuring in Japan compared to the predominantly state-led pattern in France.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , January 1997 , pp. 31 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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