The Competitive Status Of The Us Electronics Industry

This eight-chapter report is one of seven industry-specific studies conducted to identify global shifts of industrial technological capacity on a sector-by-sector basis, to relate those shifts in international competitive industrial advantage to technological and other factors, and to assess future prospects for further technological change and industrial development. The methodology of the studies included a series of panel meetings involving discussions between experts, resource personnel, and government agency and congressional representatives. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 examine, respectively, the challenge to United States' leadership in electronics, financial and human resource constraints, and barriers to international trade. Chapters 3 to 7 focus respectively on: the semiconductor industry (considering its size, structure, and international position, the semiconductor manufacturing process, and bases for competition); the computer industry (considering its size, structure, and international position, its changing economics, and bases for competition); the telecommunications industry (considering its size, structure, and international position, developments in transmission technology, and bases for competition); and the consumer electronics industry (examining its size and international position and the factors of Japanese success in the industry). Chapter 8 considers research, capital formation, human resource, and international trade policy options for the U.S. electronics industry. (JN)

This assessment continues the Office of Technology Assessment's (OTA) exploration of the meaning of industrial policy in the United States context, while also examining the industrial policies of several U.S. economic rivals. The major focus is on electronics, an area which virtually defines "high technology" of the 1980's. The assessment sets the characteristics of the technology itself alongside other forces that exert major influences over international competitiveness. Specific areas addressed include: electronics technology; structure, trade, and competitiveness in the international electronics industry; quality, reliability, and automation in manufacturing; role of financing in competitiveness and electronics; human resources (education, training, management); employment effects; national industrial policies; and U.S. trade policies and their effects. The report concludes by outlining five options for a U.S. industrial policy, drawing on electronics for examples of past and prospective impacts, as well as on OTA's previous studies of the steel and automotive industries. A detailed summary and introductory comments are included. Also included in appendices are case studies in the development and marketing of electronics products, a discussion of offshore manufacturing, and a glossary of terms used in the assessment. (JN)