刊行物

内容紹介

This paper tries to shed light on the answer to a very simple question: how do Japanese

automobile and automobile parts makers supply their products and purchase parts/materials for the Chinese Market? Given Japan’s strong comparative advantage in many related product categories and China’s strong comparative disadvantage in the same categories, one would generally expect Japanese exports to provide a very large portion of the goods required. However, Japanese exports are also limited by China’s high levels of import protection and logistic difficulties in getting goods to market in China. Many Japanese firms have thus sought to service the Chinese market directly from operations within China, often buying from and selling to other Japanese firms in China. The evidence collected in this paper suggests that the vast majority of sales are sent to other Japanese firms in China or to Chinese customers, while a much larger portion of purchases are made from Japan, either directly from Japanese suppliers or through their representatives in China. Finally, the study summarizes the results of detailed survey of six affiliates that was designed to illuminate how various distribution channels are used and the problems encountered with various channels.