Sources of industrial leadership : studies of seven industries / [...] XD-US

This book describes and analyzes how seven major high-tech industries evolved in the United States, Japan, and Western Europe. The industries covered are machine tools, organic chemical products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, computers, semiconductors, and software. In each of these industries, firms located in one or a very few countries became the clear technological and commercial leaders. In a number of cases, the locus of leadership changed, sometimes more than once, over the course of the histories studied. The focus of the book is on the key factors that supported the emergence of national leadership in each industry, and the reasons behind the shifts when they occurred. Special attention is given to the national policies that helped to create or sustain industrial leadership. Frontmatter ......Page 1 Contents ......Page 5 Acknowledgments ......Page 7 List of Contributors ......Page 8 1 - Introduction( ......Page 9 2 - The Evolution of Competitive Advantage in the Worldwide Semiconductor Industry, 1947-1996 ......Page 27 3 - Industrial Dynamics and the Evolution of Firms' and Nations' Competitive Capabilities in the World Computer Industry ......Page 87 4 - The Computer Software Industry1 ......Page 141 5 - Innovation in the Machine Tool Industry: A Historical Perspective on the Dynamics of Comparative AdvantageA ......Page 177 6 - Dynamics of Comparative Advantage in the Chemical IndustryA ......Page 225 7 - The Pharmaceutical Industry and the Revolution in Molecular Biology: Interactions Among Scientific, Institutional, and Organizational Change ......Page 275 8 - Diagnostic Devices: An Analysis of Comparative Advantages ......Page 320 9 - Explaining Industrial Leadership ......Page 367 Index ......Page 391 "This book describes and analyzes how seven major high-tech industries evolved in the United States, Japan, and Western Europe. The industries covered are machine tools, organic chemical products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, computers, semiconductors, and software. In each of these industries, firms located in one country or a very few countries became the clear technological and commercial leaders. In a number of cases, the locus of leadership changed, sometimes more than once, over the course of the histories studied. The emphasis of the book is on the key factors that supported the emergence of national leadership in each industry, and the reasons behind the shifts when they occurred In the half century of its existence, the business of semiconductor manufacture has come to capture the popular imagination as few others have.