2006 Volume 5 Issue 4 Pages 233-272
This paper undertakes an empirical analysis of the proposition by “The Industry Theory of Architecture,” presented by Takahiro Fujimoto in Considerations Regarding Comparatively Superior Architectures (Fujimoto, 2005). The proposition states that Japanese companies created organizational capacity through integration-based manufacturing that was highly compatible with the integral architecture of products, and thus, much of Japan’s net exports can be attributed to integral architecture. Responses to a survey (33 companies and 254 products) conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry were used in a principal component analysis of integral strength as the degree of integral architecture, and relative positions were shown for each regarding the degree of product integralization and modularization. The products covered by the survey were then divided into assembly products and process products. Further, on the basis of a regression analysis of export ratios, calculated from survey responses and the degree of integral architecture, an empirical analysis was conducted regarding the integrity of the aforementioned proposition. Moreover, regression analysis with the added explanatory variable of the degree of labor intensity, in addition to the explanatory variable of the degree of integral architecture, produced statistically significant results for assembly products. This shows that the higher the degrees of integralization and labor intensity in the assembled product, the higher the ratios of exports and the greater the international competitive strength. These results may also have implications for new developments in international trade theory.
