NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
... n all digital HDTV standard. The problem was that Zenith, AT&T, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and A. T. R. C.
all had quality aspects to offer and resulted in 4 serious contenders vying for 1 standard. The FCC then made a recommendation to form a Grand Alliance which evolved to include AT&T, General Instrument Corporation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Zenith Electronics Corporation, Philips Consumer Electronics, the David Sarnoff Research Center and Thompson Consumer Electronics. The alliance took the best features of the 4 presented systems and developed them into the Vertical Sideband (VSB) HDTV standard. Now the aspect ratio was established at 16 units wide by 9 units high and contains 1080 lines of resolution.
Additionally motion standards were based upon a MPEG 2 syntax that will permit it to easily interact with computer multimedia applications directly. High quality Audio would be supported by Dolby AC- 3 digital audio compression. Finally, in 1996, the FCC adopted the VSB HDTV as the new broadcast standard and began requiring commercial broadcasts to start in late 1998. The FCC has aggressively targeted 2006 as the date for a full conversion to digital broadcasting and a gradual phase out of the current NTSC broadcasts. Who made the right decisions and where do these decisions leave us today? First we must analyze the cultures involved.
Industrial policy played an increasingly large part in how the evolution of HDTV transpired. Japans MITI actively targets industries with high growth potential while simultaneously establishing the necessary roadblocks from foreign players. The U. S. on the other hand acts like they abhor the governments involvement in setting industrial policy. Even today, the U.
S. trade policy still labors under the assumption that Japan systematically discriminates against foreign market entrants. MITI hides these barriers under tax policies, competition policies and even land use polices. Not everyone concurs with this belief though.
Some foreign corporations have successfully entered the Japanese market. These culturally aware corporations found a way to play by Japans rules and still achieve a competitive success. MITIs role in encouraging Japanese firms to develop HDTV technology looks from some eyes to be a total disaster. True billions of dollars are now lost on an analog system that has no global appeal, however, today Japan is currently the only country where HDTV transmissions are common place reaching more than 30 millions viewers daily. But how much of a role did MITI actually play in the growth of HDTV is debatable.
Some would argue that Japans industrial policy suggests that they are responsible for much of what happened to Japans success in the 80 s. Upon closer look that may not be the case. Japan as a whole was experiencing continuing growth and rapid advancement because it was predominately playing technological catch up with the West. It is far easier to grow and improve productivity quickly when you are adopting and adapting technologies invented elsewhere than it is when you have to develop new technologies yourself. Additionally, Japan was aided by a business friendly policy environment of low taxes and low government spending. One can conclude then that Japans rapid ascent was more a tribute to private sector innovation and market forces rather than some MITI masterminded interventionist industrial policy.
This, however, leaves little solace to the taxpayers who, like in Europe, are left paying for the many billions lost in the quest for leadership in HDTV technology. Today many U. S. policymakers no longer fear that Japan is about to overwhelm us economically. That misplaced fear bred panic, and led to the serious consideration and occasional implementation of policies that were fundamentally inconsistent with the world trading order. Most of these fear-based implementations were eliminated before irreversible damage was done and today the picture is quite different.
The U. S. has new and quite different fears about Japan. While the U. S. has virtually eliminated the calls for import restrictions a broad-ranged criticism has been building that Japan is not bearing the burden of an economic leader.
Japans problems, compounded by the Asian crisis, have fueled new fears that a financial collapse by Japan could precipitate a global economic downturn. Perhaps the U. S. has the correct approach regarding Industrial Policy. By not having the Government actively dictate where firms invest their precious resources they in effect allow for competitive forces to dictate Research and Development policies. In contrast, when reviewing Japans history one must factor in the value or hindrance of governments involvement.
Japans governmental bodies have arguably had a lack of foresight who have opted for reacting rather than anticipating. This may have succeeded in the past, but the speed of todays fast evolving technologies can not wait for traditional sluggish government responses to define policy. It appears that even today, MITI has difficulty in overcoming an inherent bias for micro managing regulation rather than looking at overall strategies. Not only has this lead to Japan falling behind in certain high tech developments, Japan now has had to turn its attention to domestic problems. With publicity surrounding such domestic inadequacies as the fact that only 15 percent of Japanese homes are connected to sewers, Japan has been forced to do a bit of backpedaling and refocusing on domestic issues. Even so, the trade conflicts between the U.
S. and Japan will continue. This is inevitable given the commercial stakes involved and the continued perception of Japan as an unfairly closed market. These markets, much like the HDTV market, are probably better off without the added pressures from governments involvement. Bibliography: BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ellis, Richard JTEC Report on High Definition Systems in Japan, Loyola College 1991 Tennis, Lawrence, Flat Panel Displays and CRTs Van Nostrand Reinhold Co.
Inc. 1985 Ozawa Japan US Technological Challenge to the West MIT Press Okimoto Between MITI and the Market Japanese Industrial Policy for High Technology Stanford University Press Griffin & Pussy International Business A Managerial Perspective Addison-Wesley Yokozawa, Minor HDTV Rear Projector Using LCD Panels IDRC 1991 Conference Records Tatsuno The Technopolis Strategy; Japan, High Technology, and Control of the 21 st Century Prentice Hall Press Ostry / Nelson Techno-Nationalism and Techno-Globalism The Brookings Institution - 1995
Free research essays on topics related to: high technology, massachusetts institute of technology, consumer electronics, japans, hdtv
Research essay sample on Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Consumer Electronics
