The Dynamics of Knowledge Regimes: Technology, Culture and Competitiveness in the USA and Japan
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The Dynamics of Knowledge Regimes: Technology, Culture and Competitiveness in the USA and Japan D. Jin Continuum, London, 2001, xii, 321pp. ISBN: 0-8264-5443-4. Asian Business & Management (2003) 2, 425–429. doi:10.1057/palgrave.abm.9200064
In this book, Denjian Jin claims that scholarship over the past two decades has generally failed to adopt a sectoral approach to understand the dynamics of national competitiveness. Moreover, he writes, the literature has been unable to recognize how national variations in cultural premises and organizing principles have impacted on the creation, generation, dissemination, utilization, and appropriation of knowledge within nations. He states that these variations create unique knowledge regimes within nation states. He then argues that since the knowledge necessary to achieve competitive success differs by industrial sector, variations in national knowledge regimes have had the greatest influence on the persistent sectoral patterns of competitiveness in the US and Japan. Jin suggests that his book provides a new conceptual framework for the systematic comparison of national knowledge regimes. Furthermore, on p. 4 he contends that: By investigating the co-evolution of cultural paradigms, governance mechanisms, organizing principles and technological trajectories in these two countries, [this] book intends to provide an integrative framework on the emergence, dominance, adaptation and persistence of national systems of knowledge creation, and on the role of culture, industrial policy, international trade, generic technology, business strategy in either facilitating or hindering national technological competitiveness in different sectors. Jin should be applauded for attempting to offer a unique and new approach to studying variations in sectoral competitive successes. He begins his analysis well in Chapter 2, where he presents a detailed examination of US and Japanese import/export data by industrial sector, from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. His findings clearly document the persistent successes of US producers in the following industries: ‘aircraft, drugs and medicines, chemicals, scientific instruments, biotechnology, life science, weapons, nuclear technology, prepackaged software, consulting, information services, banking, retailing, food, entertainment, and other services’ (p. 9). Conversely, he illustrates well Japan’s lead in ‘automobiles, consumer electronics, opt-electronics, game
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software, machine tools and robotics, flexible manufacturing systems, and computer-integrated manufacturing’ (p. 4). In the chapters to follow, Jin first explores the connection between culture and knowledge creation. He also outlines the roles American and Japanese governance mechanisms have played in the creation of their respective knowledge regimes. He then describes how different cultural paradigms in each country have fostered persistent competitive advantages in certain sectors. He concludes that America’s current competitiveness in certain emerging sectors will be sh
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