Industries and Global Competition A History of Business Beyond Borders Routledge International Studies in Business History Series

Changes in the dynamics of economic activities since the last decades of the 20th century have yielded major changes in the composition of industries and the division of labor and production across different regions of the world. Despite these shifts in the global economy, some industries have remained competitive even without relocating their operations overseas.

Industries and Global Competition examines how and why the specificities of certain industries and firms determined their choice of location and competitiveness. This volume identifies the major drivers of this process and explains why some firms and industries moved to other parts of world while others did not. Relocation was not the sole determinant of the success or failure of firms and industries. Indeed some were able to reinvent themselves at their original location and build new competitive advantages. The path that each industry or firm took varied. This book argues that the specific characteristics of each industry defined the conditions of competitiveness and provide a wide range of cases as illustrations.

Aimed at scholars, researchers and acadmeics in the fields of business history, international business and related disciplines Industries and Global Competition exmaines the unique questions; How and why did the specificities of certain industries and firms determine their choice of location and competitiveness?

Introduction Industry History: Its Concepts and Methods

Takafumi Kurosawa

Part 1: FDI and Global Competition

1. Advantage of Being a Giant: The Global Cigarette Industry since the 1980s

Takashi Hirao

2. Access to Markets, Investment, Continentalization and Competitiveness: The Evolution of the Canadian Auto Sector

Dimitry Anastakis

3. Different Ways to the Global Market: The Dynamics of Japan’s Electrical Equipment Companies

Shigehiro Nishimura

4. Exploring the Rise of Big Pharma: A French-Inspired Model for the Global Vaccine Industry

Julia Yongue

Part 2: Localized Knowledge as a Lasting Competitive Advantage

5. Longevity in Regional Specialization: the Dutch Water Construction Industry

Bram Bouwens

6. Going Global in Fragmented Markets: The European Publishing Industry since the Second Postwar Period.

Nuria Puig and María Fernández-Moya

7. Small, Hidden and Competitive: the Japanese Chemical Industry since 1990

So Hirano

Part 3: Shift in Global Value Chains

8. Sourcing Competition across Industries: Japanese Department Stores and the Global Fast Fashion

Rika Fujioka

9. "Swiss made" but Global: From Technology to Fashion in the Watch Industry, 1950-2010

Pierre-Yves Donzé

10. How to Sail a Sinking Ship – Adapting to the Declining Competitiveness of the European Shipping Industry

Stig Tenold and Jari Ojala

11. Three Markets and Three Types of Competitiveness: Pulp and Paper Industry

Takafumi Kurosawa and Tomoko Hashino

Conclusion

Bram

• Dr Bram Bouwens is an Assistant Professor at Utrecht University, Netherlands.



• Pierre-Yves Donzé is a Professor of Business History at the Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University, Japan.





• Takafumi Kurosawa is a Professor at the Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University, Japan