Pleasing the consumer while playing to win: Consumer electronics is Japan's trump card — Fine-tuned to woo customers, dispel adversity

Japan's technical accomplishments maintain a particularly high profile among math students, homemakers, television fans, citizens band radio operators, and audiophiles — in short, everyone who uses consumer electronics. Successful Japanese companies have earned their reputation through exacting attention to product engineering and marketing strategy. The emphasis is on producing a high proportion of technological successes, rather than spectacular but economically unsound “firsts.”