The US used to be celebrated for its can-do attitude to commerce, but the kind of opportunism that sees companies rushing to meet a new demand as soon as it appears, and to learn a new business on the fly seems to have been succeeded by a deadening risk aversion in both the US and Europe, and only in the Far East does the risk-taking spirit that leads to the creation of vital new industries seem to be alive and well: Funai Ltd, a medium-sized Osaka consumer electronics manufacturer believes it can make its fortune in the exploding market for lap-top computers, and plans to launch as its first computer an IBM-compatible laptop – taking the thing to the US under the Symphonic brand name and offering it as an OEM product to US firms.
