A Comparison of American and Japanese Competitive Product and Manufacturing Process Benchmarking and Reverse Engineering in the Electron Device Industry: Frequency of Use and Perceived Value

Abstract

A survey of participants in the electron device industry has been conducted to better understand the differences between American and Japanese practitioners of competitive product and manufacturing process benchmarking and reverse engineering (CP/MPBRE). We have studied the responses of n = 221 survey participants who self-describe as new product and manufacturing process engineering practitioners. Consistent with the general literature on this topic, we observe that more Japanese than American engineers in the electron device industry engage in CP/MPBRE. However, expanding on the general literature, we find that, of those who do practice CP/MPBRE, American and Japanese practitioners in this industry do so comparably in terms of frequency of use and perceptions of value. We discuss the implications of these findings.