On the Formation of Production Networks of Small Binocular Manufacturers in Japan's Early Postwar Period

In Japan's early postwar period, binoculars became a leading export product. Nearly a hundred percent of binoculars made in Japan were shipped to the United States in the early years after exporting began. Japanese binoculars were able to take over 90 per cent of the U.S. import market for more than a decade from mid 1950s. What factors made it possible for Japanese binoculars to show the remarkable performance in the U.S. import market for more than a decade? To investigate sources of the competitiveness of binoculars in those days will be helpful to understand conditions of industrial development, because this case may add an illustrative example of the emergence of competitive SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) in a chaotic economy. Quality is an element of competitiveness. A method of press-molding optical glass was, among other things, recognized as a comparatively advantageous technology which was inherited from the wartime development of optical munitions directed by the Japanese Navy and Army. Thus, the quality was largely ensured by the technology and other inherited skills. On the other hand, price competitiveness of Japanese binoculars derived mainly from a flexible manufacturing system of specialized firms which were agglomerated as a cluster in the northern part of Tokyo after the end of the war. This production system as a network was formed by small assembly and component manufacturers. In this paper I will show a brief history of binocular development in Japan and refer to the main background of competitiveness of this industry in the early postwar period. In this context, factors creating networks of small specialized binocular firms in a particular area of Tokyo are focused upon. Further, the effectiveness of these networks is discussed