Even in a globalized economy, nations need to have strong local production capabilities in order to bring innovation to the market, American and Japanese scholars said in a recent symposium held in Tokyo.
The United States should fix the holes in its "industrial ecosystems" — involving suppliers, research, skilled labor as well as financing — that were created with the changes in its corporate structures since the 1980s. Meanwhile, the productivity of Japanese manufacturers has once again become more important as wage gaps between advanced and emerging economies rapidly narrow, they said.
Professors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were joined by Japanese scholars as well as business executives and a government official during the symposium held March 28 under the theme, "Manufacturing in the Innovation Economy." In the event jointly organized by the Japan Program at the MIT Center for International Studies, Keidanren (Japan Business Federation ) and the Keizai Koho Center, the participants discussed the future of manufacturing as jobs in this sector continue to decline in Japan and the U.S.