This exploratory study addresses the issue of adjustment to less-developed country (LDC) competition by affected firms and industries in developed countries (DCs). Empirically-based insights into the nature of the adjustment problem are inductively derived from examination of adjustment in four Japanese industries (producing, respectively; cutlery, footwear, umbrellas, and mosaic tile) which have faced severe competition from producers in the Asian newly industrializing countries (Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore). The study employs existing public and non-public reports, interviews with informants in Japanese government and industry and the results of field research in a production centre. External factors favouring rapid development of LDC competitive strength are identified, including earlier Japanese exports which internationalized O.E.C.D. markets for the products examined. The pattern of evolution of LDC competitive strength along dimensions other than those of relative product standardization and factor-intensity is discussed. Japanese foreign direct investment in competing LDCs served to increase the adjustment problem of Japanese producers. This is related to the rapidity of LDC competitive development and to the structure of the Japanese industries examined. Adjustment alternatives are discussed, in terms of the concept of value-added, under the categories of: cost-improving, price-improving, and margin-improving adjustment. The last of these incorporates improvements in value-added arising from a change of product or of functional activity. The adjustment problem is seen to be a function not only of LDC development but also of concurrent DC development external to the affected industries. Variation among industry participants in the impact of the adjustment problem and in the number and nature of adjustment alternatives was highly related to differences in the functional activities of firms. Where existing producers are unable to adjust within an industry, the industry, itself, is found to "retrogress" and production activities are transferred to a geographic and socio-economic periphery within the DC. This shifts the ultimate exposure to LDC competition onto those who have the least mobility and are least able to actively adjust to that competition. Some suggestions are made regarding the implications of the findings for government, business, and further research. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

The Japanese vegetable market is characterized by a general tendency towards the concentration of production by region. Amongst all vegetables, potato production has the highest level of concentration. Eighty-six percent of the total market quantity is accounted for by Hokkaido, the largest production prefecture amongst the 47 prefectures in Japan. The Herfindahl Index for prefectures in the Japanese potato market was 0.74 in 1994, indicating that the fewness of producers was equivalent to a market where total output was shared equally by only 1.35 producers. Under this highly concentrated situation, existence of monopolistic power, or more generally, oligopolistic power, of the large scale producers can be suspected. / In this thesis, the level of competition in the Japanese Potato market was evaluated employing conjectural variations analysis based on a monthly data for 1989 to 1995 to reveal the nature of the market. Four wholesale markets, in four large consumption areas, and eight production areas in differ ent geographical locations in were analyzed. / The conclusion from the results of the empirical analysis is that, despite the high level of concentration in production, all producing regions including the dominant producer, Hokkaido, seem to have behaved competitively. / One implication for the competitive behavior of these large producers is the imperative to maintain their share in the market against potential competitors, resulting in price setting close to the marginal cost.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 204-209).