From inside-out to outside-in: The past, future, and transition of Japan’s innovation ecosystem
Keywords:
Japanese Innovation System, Lock-in Problem, Corporate Organizational Structure, Startup, GlobalizationAbstract
Japanese innovation system is full of dynamism. Developed through time, from the prosperous seasons following the end of World War 2 until the bubble era during the beginning of 1990s, the hidden gridlocks started to be seen. This article exhibits the institutional and cultural factors that contribute to the causes of such setbacks, which comprise the ever-remaining nation-building mindset, the protectionist policies to promote social equality, and the strong adherence to inventor’s spirits and desire to maintain manufacturing leader.
In addition, the paper offers the potential solutions to Japanese innovation-related problems for the hope of achieving a more open, more flexible, more transparent, and more efficient system. Those solutions can really be accomplished and in fact have gradually developed both through self-reinforcing mechanism and through the changing economic circumstances worldwide which include a more resilient labor markets, an advancement of information technology, an ever-changing global supply chain, and the country’s greater awareness about the need to take a significant part of globalization.
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