Japanese direct investment in east asia: the strategic implications for marketing

Abstract

Japanese direct investment in East Asian countries is part of a long- range strategy to bind these nations more closely to Japan and to ensure ready access to raw materials and markets for goods manufactured by Japanese firms. The author examines changing patterns of foreign direct investment in the region and suggests ways in which marketers might respond to this changing environment. With the advent of the Pacific Era, companies concerned with their long- term well-being and success have little choice but to improve their understanding of the most populous and economically vibrant area of the world: East Asia. In so doing they must possess a keen awareness of the new dynamic at work in the world economy. Shifting strategic and commercial advantages, increasing international integration, and the emergence of new economic power centers are transforming the way firms do business. As the economic center of gravity continues its move west ward, not only a re Japanese consumer and industrial products flooding the world marketplace , but also a torrent of Japanese direct investment now is flooding the world in response to the recent rise of the yen.