Information Gathering and Dissemination: The Contribution of JETRO to Japanese Competitiveness

Content.- A: Explaining Japanese Competitiveness.- B: The Role of the State and the Contribution of JETRO.- C: Organization of JETRO.- D: Information Networks.- E: Interfirm Information Exchange.- Summary and Policy Implications.- Annex.

Dr. Christian Göseke promovierte am Lehrstuhl für Internationales Management von Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Horst Albach der WHU, Otto-Beisheim-Hochschule, Koblenz. Er arbeitet heute bei einer internationalen Unternehmensberatung in Berlin.

Japanese manufacturers have gained considerable market shares in global competition in the last decades. Despite rapid Yen appreciation, signs of unemployment, and the real estate and banking crisis there is no reason to believe that the conditions leading to Japan's unprecedented rapid growth have changed. Christian Göseke analyses the role of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and shows that this trade promoting state agency constitutes an information-sharing system that improves the competitiveness of Japanese firms. The author comes to the conclusion that processes of gathering and disseminating information on foreign markets are more efficient than those of the German trade promotion system.