R&D activities and technical information flow in Japanese electronic corporations

The paper analyzes R&D-activities of Japanese electronic corporations in the context of the firm’s performance for the period 1986 to 1996. Compared to the R&Dexpenditures- to-sales ratio the profit-on-sales ratio is remarkably low for the whole industry. This stresses the problems which the electrical machinery is facing in a time of growing diversification, extremely high costs for new developments and stiff competition with non-patent-protected products.