Small and midsize manufacturers don't make for as flashy headlines as giants like Sony and Toyota. They are sometimes even collectively considered a symbol of a debt-laden Japan Inc.
Now that China has risen as a low-cost production power, are small and midsize Japanese manufacturers destined to be overwhelmed?
Hisayoshi Hashimoto, a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies who teaches industrial policy to Asian government officials, brushes aside such pessimism.