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NEC: A new R&D site in Princeton
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The Japanese have historically been "absorbing" innovations from Western countries through reading the latest publications in English, which was a good strategy when they were behind. Japanese (especially in large organizations) have a strong "the nail that sticks out gets hammered" tendency, keeping innovative individuals from working with their full potential. Strangely they tend to worship Western innovations (anything coming from the US) more or less blindly instead. NEC had research labs in Japan by then (Shinoda had been the president) but it was perhaps the case that the atmosphere was not suitable for long-term basic researches with freedom. But problems started to surface as they were catching up with the technology level, and, the NEC lab story can be regarded as a struggle to deal with such external changes. NEC was established in 1899 as a joint U.S and Japanese enterprise, as a telephone manufacturer, financed by Western Electric Company. After the Second World War, radio wireless communications became the firm’s new line of product, which was initiated by the then firm’s managing director Koji Kabayashi. This was made possible following the Japanese deregulation on electric wave frequencies. Later on, NEC developed satellite communication systems in the 1960s with Hughes Corporation. The firm’s successes were attributed to Kobayashi’s innovative skill and strategy, which led to the company to enter into the computer manufacturing business. Kobayashi believed that entering the computer business would be crucial to the advancement of the company. In 1958, NEC produced its first mainframe computers. In the 70s the company produced its first integrated computers and communication through semiconductor devices. This was acknowledged as being important in the technological field in the entire world. NEC introduced its first personal computer in the 1980s, its 98pc series, which conquered the largest market share at that time period. The firm had outstanding managerial innovative skills, which put the firm in the front line of computer and communication industry. Computers and communications became the core competence of NEC. C&C has access to wide variety of markets and it made significant contribution to the customer’s value of the products. Above all, it was difficult for competitors to imitate.
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