Abstract
Beginning in the mid-1980s Japanese manufacturing companies began to invest heavily in U.S. production capacity. This was partly a response to a weakening U.S. dollar and trade protectionist measures imposed by the U.S. government. Japanese investment in U.S. production capacity continues unabated today. As more and more Japanese manufacturers started manufacturing their products in the United States there was an interest among geographers to understand the spatial dynamics of this investment. Much of this investment was directed towards the automotive sector. Given the large amount of investment that flowed into the automotive sector the purpose of this is to summarize three decades of scholarly research on Japanese direct investment in this sector.
Highlights
The late-1980s witnessed the beginning of scholarly interest in Japanese Direct Investment in the U.S manufacturing (JDIUSM) sector
This chapter has provided a summary of several decades of research on the geography of Japanese direct investment in the U.S manufacturing sector
The result is a geographically concentrated supply network in which automobile assembly plants are surrounded by literally dozens of component parts makers
Summary
The late-1980s witnessed the beginning of scholarly interest in Japanese Direct Investment in the U.S manufacturing (JDIUSM) sector. This interest was sparked by the growing presence of Japanese-owned manufacturing facilities in the United States. Japanese companies have $93.4 billion invested in U.S manufacturing facilities. This represents 10.4% of total foreign direct investment (FDI) in U.S manufacturing (Tab. 1). The transportation equipment sector is the primary target for Japanese investors. This sector accounts for 40.8% of JDIUSM followed by chemicals (16%) and machinery (12%) (Tab. 2).
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