From being the country that seemed to get everything right in the 1970s and 1980s, Japan begins to look like a country that finds it hard to get anything right. Fujitsu Ltd and NEC Corp looked poised to become mighty competitors on the world telecommunications equipment market a decade ago, yet today the big names are the likes of Nokia Oy, L M Ericsson Telefon AB, Motorola Inc and Northern Telecom Ltd. According to the Wall Street Journal, Japanese exports of telecommunications equipment have actually fallen for the past three years, and critics blame the sclerotic pace of reform and liberalization. This means that with little competition, call charges are punishingly high, call traffic is artificially depressed, and there is too little business done to sustain a vibrant home market in which the national manufacturers could learn how to become truly competitive.
