Xref: utzoo soc.culture.japan:5008 comp.software-eng:4008 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!apple!sun-barr!ccut!ascgw!fgw!flab!flab.fujitsu.co.jp From: mojo@flab.fujitsu.co.jp (Mark Johnson) Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,comp.software-eng Subject: Red Paper (recap) Keywords: Japanese Software Market Message-ID: <8918@flab.flab.fujitsu.co.jp> Date: 2 Aug 90 00:10:46 GMT Sender: mojo@flab.flab.fujitsu.co.jp Followup-To: soc.culture.japan Lines: 127 About a month ago, I posted a document called the "Red Paper," written by Bill Totten, the president of a software distributor in Kawasaki. The first page is included below, for anybody who missed it. Unfortunately, the copy which I posted apparently had a lot of really ugly formatting noise, when viewed on an American terminal. Even worse, being a first-time poster, I forgot to include a .signature to let you know who was responsible for the mess (also see: disclaimer) :-). If anyone is interested in the falling market share of American software in Japan, but didn't make it through the formatting noise last time, I'd be glad to send you a copy with the noise (I hope) edited out. Here's page 1 again, as a preview. >* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > > RED PAPER > > ARE WE ABANDONING OUR COMPUTER INDUSTRY TO JAPAN? > > I call this a "red" paper because red is the color I >most associate with danger. I believe that the United States is >in danger of abandoning another vital industry to Japan. This is >its computer industry, both computer hardware and computer >software. Abandon. Surrender. Thrown away, not taken away. >Not stolen. Not elbowed aside by artificial means, simply >surrendered. > > I see the same pattern of abandonment and surrender now >beginning in computers that has occurred before in such >industries as motorcycles, automobiles, consumer electronics, >office equipment and semiconductors. The first products >American companies let go to competition are the low-end, >inexpensive products. The first markets they let go are foreign >markets. But surrendering the inexpensive products and foreign >markets usually are their first steps down the relentless path >toward losing the more lucrative products and their own home >market. > > The danger to our computer industry is particularly life >threatening, because computers are critically vital to U.S. >industry in general. We are not talking about "Toys-R-Us"; we >are talking about a critical, strategic industry. > > The danger comes from the way American computer >manufacturers and software houses are running their businesses >and treating their customers, not from any "targeting" of their >industry or other conspiracy by the Japanese. This danger can >be avoided only if American computer companies perceive the need >to correct the way they are running their businesses and >treating their customers. And, act on that life saving >perception. Now, while there still is time. Blaming or bashing >the Japanese will not help. Clyde Prestowitz, Jr., put it >clearly in twelve words: "The U.S. doesn't have a Japan problem. >It has a U.S. problem." > > I am an American citizen, and a permanent resident of >Japan. I have lived in Japan for twenty-one years, since 1969. >I co-founded and am the president of K.K. Ashisuto, a Japanese >company that publishes computer software products and >distributes them in Japan. We have 625 employees. Our revenues >last year were nine billion yen, 95% from software products we >imported from the United States. Our products range from the >least expensive for the smallest personal computers to the most >expensive for the largest corporate computers. From products >selling for less than $100 to products selling for most of a >million dollars. > > I see this danger because it affects my business, >increasingly, every day. I am worried about it. As a >businessman, I want to see a strong and competitive American >economy. As an American citizen, I want to see a strong and >competitive American economy. As a resident of Japan, I want to >see a strong and competitive American economy. So does the >world. > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * A brief history of the Red Paper: According to Mr. Totten, whom I spoke with once about a week after I posted the paper, it was originally written as a letter, which he mailed to several US Senators and Representatives. Since he believed it was a good summary of what he saw as a real danger, he gave copies to his friends and business associates, requesting that they forward the document to anyone and everyone who might be interested, "with or without attribution." He assured me that, since he wants the document to receive the largest audience possible, readers are still encouraged to re-distribute it widely. The version which I posted here is an electronic copy, which I received via PC-mail from a friend. The Red Paper has appeared in Japan on CompuServe (in English) and NIFTY-Serve (in Japanese), and was re-written for the July issue of Tokyo Business Today (Tohyo Keizai). Mr. Totten included a copy at the end of his book, "Nihon wa Warukunai"--"Japan Ain't Bad." Totten himself has been appearing on television quite a bit recently -- his book, and his 21 years in Japan, have made him something of a celebrity. Unfortunately, all of this publicity means that nobody's had time to re-write the paper, which was originally written for non-professionals, in a form which provides useful answers for questions like "What features do Japanese consumers need" and "What is a reasonable price structure." I think Mr. Totten's intent was to make software companies think about the problem, and send people to Japan to investigate, not to tell them what to do; the most obvious feature of the Japanese market is that it can't be penetrated from across five thousand miles of ocean. I'd be happy to share my own opinions, but since I write "custom in-house software" (mostly for my own use) instead of "software products," I'm sure somebody else on the Net can give better answers than I can. --- "If it is in a book, it is at least four years old, and I don't have any use for it." -- Henry Ford Mark Johnson Fujitsu Labs Ltd., Japan (044) 754-2639 Disclaimer: I am on temporary assignment at Fujitsu Laboratories. Nothing I say or do in any way reflects the opinions and attitudes of Fujitsu, or of its related companies.