How the Japanese came to dominate the machine tool business

This paper reports the major findings of a study of the strategic evolution of the machine tool industry. The author interviewed more than 70 machine tool corporations in five countries, plus a number of industry experts and officials. The major conclusion of the study is that what for a long time was perceived to be a mature slow-moving industry, actually is undertaking a fast process of change. Corporations and governments which fail to recognize the sources and directions of change are heading for trouble.