<p> Acknowledgments</p><p>The Alfred P Sloan Foundation has been instrumental in making this work possible, and I wish to thank it and the other funding sources for their support.</p><p>Hirsh Cohen at the Sloan Foundation is due special thanks for his support of the project, and especially for his insight that the research team should avoid trying to confirm any specific IT strategy model. Rather, it should complete its study of the leading IT strategists and from the material thus assembled (which became a set of working papers) see what common approaches there might be.</p><p>From 1993 through 2001, Columbia University's Center on Japanese </p><p>Economy and Business (CJEB) received grant funding from the Japan-US </p><p>Friendship Commission and the Sloan Foundation to examine and analyze the </p><p>Japanese software industry, as well as strategic and competitive developments in </p><p>Japanese, European, and US companies' use of information technology.</p><p>Additional funds were received from the Center on Japanese Economy and </p><p>Business, the Center on International Business Education and Research at the </p><p>University of Washington, the Centre for Asia Pacific Initiatives at the University of </p><p>Victoria, The New Jersey Institute of Technology, and the Ridgefield Foundation. </p><p>This book is based on those studies, including the results of interviews and meetings with industry experts, various analysts, government policy makers, large systems houses, large software developers and large IT customers in Japan, the United </p><p>States, and Europe.</p><p>The Sloan industry centers (listed in Appendix 2) provided invaluable assistance. This included advice on the industries and firms selected for case studies, and assistance in conducting the studies. Peter Burns, Charles Cooney, </p><p>Stanley Finkelstein, Robert Leachman, Chelsea White, David Mowery, Robert King, and Roger Ahlbrandt were especially helpful with their comments and advice.</p><p>The views expressed here, though, are solely those of the author and not necessarily those of the other case writers, the industry centers, the participating firms, or the project sponsors.</p><p>Thanks are due a number of individuals.</p><p>Hugh Patrick, who has been my economics and Japan mentor since I was a graduate student at Yale in the 1960s, gave full support, including helping with fund raising. Without him, this study would never have emerged.</p><p>Larry Meissner diligently read the last two drafts and provided queries and comments that helped sharpen the points and make the presentation more transparent. An anonymous reader also provided extensive comments and encouragement that have improved the book. Josh Safier struggled with editing the various working papers on which the initial draft was based, and acted as the point- person at CJEB during the process of turning draft into final manuscript into book.</p><p>At Oxford University Press Martha Cooley helped shape and focus the manuscript after Paul Donnelly and (earlier) Herb Addison had prodded me to finish it.</p><p>Christos Cabolis, Nobuhiko Hibara, and Hiroshi Amari are due special thanks for writing the initial cases on semiconductors (NEC and AMD), retailing (Ito-</p><p>Yokado), and pharmaceuticals (Takeda and Merck) respectively. David Hawk at the </p><p>New Jersey Institute of Technology helped develop the chapter on Nokia. Mazhar ul Islam updated the industry and firm data in the tables and collected material on corporate consolidations and reorganizations.</p><p>Staff at the Japan Fund, Nikko Securities, and Scudder Kemper International, especially Miyuki Wakatsuki, were generous with their time, advice, and contacts. </p><p>Many executives generously shared their insights and experiences, giving me a better understanding of their industries, their companies, and their strategic use of </p><p>IT.</p><p>Colleagues at Yale, Ritsumeikan University, The New Jersey Institute of </p><p>Technology, the University of Victoria, and the Fulbright Commission in Japan helped me have the time needed to complete the software study and the cases, and to write this book. Ritsumeikan University and Fulbright especially gave important support that allowed me to spend a large part of 1999-2000 in Japan completing the research, the initial draft and several case studies.</p><p>Among the numerous other individuals who have given time and provided comments on the study and this book are: Akira Kawanami, Akikazu Kida, Takeshi </p><p>Murakami, Tom Hout, Charles Brody, Hiromitsu Kaneda, Kazuo Otsuka, Fumio </p><p>Kobayashi, John Giovenco, Charles Popper, Alan Young, Cathy Grant, Perry </p><p>Pickert, Akihiko Morino, Seung Kwak, Kiyofumi Sakino, Haksoo Ko, Hajime Inomata,</p><p>Masaaki Toda, Yoshihiro Iketani, Glen Fukushima, Peter Taylor, Yoshinobu </p><p>Noguchi, Philip Chapman, John Plum, Kensuke Nagane, Kevin O'Brien, Takeo </p><p>Dazai, Robert A Feldman, Kazuhiro Harada, Masayoshi Suzuki, Steve Connell, </p><p>Kenzi Tsukazawa, Carl Taeusch, Noriyuki Matsushima, Richard Nelson, Hidekazu Ohe, Frederick Abernathy, Katsuhito Sasajima, Nelson Fraiman, Kozo Yamamura, and Arthur D'Arcy.</p><p>Then there is Japan itself, which continues to offer fascinating examples and serious challenges to conceptions of the way business should be pursued.</p><p>A writer's spouse and children inevitably deserve thanks. Diane and our children – Stacy, Christina, and Jordan – provided moral and spiritual support, especially during the year I was away from them in Japan completing the research and writing.</p><p>William V Rapp 3 August 2001 </p>