外文翻译--日本产业集群的演化与结构.docVIP

本科毕业论文外文翻译 题 目：The Evolution and Structure of Industrial Clusters in Japan 出 处： Small Business Economics 作 者： Hideki Yamawaki 译 文： ABSTRACT This paper focuses on two aspects of the evolution and structure of clusters in Japan, namely, what gives rise to clusters and what benefits are acquired by small firms from participating in clusters. The determinants of clustering are discussed by way of a review of the history of 14 industrial clusters which cover a wide range of industries and locations in Japan. It is noted that different factors dominate in different cases. Among the more important ones are the existence of leading large firms, the availability of a pooled labor market, and the presence of public research and testing facilities. The four most important benefits from clusters reported by small firms are : (i) specialization; (ii) ease of procurement; (iii) diffusion of technology, and (iv) public policy support. Access to skilled workers is not reported to be a significant benefit. This may be explained by the fact that the dominant source of skills acquisition among Japanese workers is on-the-job training and such skills may be too firmspecific to be useful to others, even within a geographically concentrated cluster. 1. Introduction It is a well established fact that Japan hosts the largest number of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) among industrialized countries. When SMEs are broadly defined as those enterprises with fewer than 300 employees or less than Yen 100 million in capital, more than 99 percent of all enterprises in Japanese manufacturing were classified as SMEs in 1994. Further,67 percent of total employees in manufacturing worked for SMEs in 1994.1 An equally important feature of Japan’s industrial organization is that Japan’s SMEs often form clusters. According to the 1996 survey of