Competition and cooperation in Japanese home appliance manufacturers-a case in VCR manufacturers

The authors describe the phases and mechanisms of competition and cooperation among home appliance manufacturers in Japan which, through licensing, parts supply, machine tool supply, and original equipment manufacturing (OEM), made video cassette recorders (VCRs) very popular. It is noted that VCR manufacturers in Japan were very competitive on the one hand, but very friendly on the other hand: in other words, the principles of economics are more important than the pride of companies. The key point of the friendship was to make others their own family members. They showed key technical information to other companies, which was very helpful for latecomers in catching-up to the advanced technologies of forerunners. Another point is that they were very friendly with parts supply. machine tool supply, and OEM