The Role Of Dods Investment In Electronics On The Decline Of The Consumer Electronics Industry

Download or read book The Role of DoD's Investment in Electronics on the Decline of the Consumer Electronics Industry written by and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper investigates what role, if any, the Department of Defense's post-World War II investment in electronics may have played in the decline of the US consumer electronics industry in the late 1960s-early 1970s. Prior to and immediately following World War II, US firms were the dominant manufacturers of consumer electronics in the world. Beginning in 1951, imports primarily from Japan, began to gain US market share. By 1974, imports accounted for over 50% of the US consumer electronics market, and many US firms left the market. Many reasons have been given for this change in fortune, including quicker use of new product and process technology and aggressive, if not 'unfair', market strategy by Japanese firms. No mention, however, is made of the role DOD's investment in electronics might have played. During the 1950s and 1960s, DOD invested heavily in electronic systems and components. Many of the firms manufacturing consumer electronics were also doing contract work with DOD. The paper investigates whether DOD's investment competed with resources (in terms of investment capital and skilled workers) with the consumer sector. The paper relies on secondary sources, aggregate industry data, and journal articles for data. The data found did not permit a conclusive statement on what DOD's role might have been. However, it would appear that DOD's investment did not directly draw investment capital away from the consumer sector. There was insufficient data to say whether DOD's investment drew skilled workers away from the consumer sector. However, more study is required.