1997 年 70 巻 1 号 p. 10-31
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the locational dynamics of the Japanese plastic-mold manufacturing industry during the microelectronics innovation, as a typical example of the small- and medium-sized machinery industries. The plastic-mold manufacturing industry started around 1930 and a complex developed in Southern Tokyo. The development of mold technology formed the basis of the mass production of durable customer goods with dependence on skilled labor. When the Japanese industry as a whole experienced drastic decentralization in the 1960s and early 1970s, the mold industry maintained centralization in existing industrial regions. However, the recent technological innovation caused rapid locational dispersal into peripheral areas of the industry and the regional differentiation of production. The above facts do not conform to the hypothesis in the neo-Marshallian flexible specialization approach, which proposes that the diffusion of ME devices and flexible production methods resulted in “re-regionalization”. The innovation had the effect of producing spatially wider networks of small- and medium-sized manufacturers around the existing agglomeration structure.
