r/confidentlyincorrect • u/Substantial-Gear3279 • 18d ago

Embarrased Satisfying

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u/ElFuckito 18d ago

Tale as old as the 20th century. That's exactly how asia became giants in technology. Underestimated by the west they started making cheaper knockoffs, and all of a sudden they had the same, if not better, technology and surpassed the west. Couple that with the working conditions in some of these countries and you got yourself a company overtaken by asian ones all because you underestimated them.

At least that's what I learned in school in the 00s.

17

u/Taps698 18d ago

The best example of the is Swiss watch making. They declined to look at digital watches. Then the market was flooded with lookalikes and nobody needed an expensive sprung watch anymore. Also Kodak with digital cameras

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u/ElFuckito 18d ago

I think at school they taught us using the example of cameras in general. When the Japanese started meddling with the camera industry they quickly surpassed the european/american technology and sold at a fraction of the price.

I don't know if this is accurate though, I just remember they used this example.

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u/rych6805 18d ago

There's a great video comparing Fujifilm to Kodak and they explain why one is successful and the other failed. Fujifilm was a research chemical company that also was a major player film market whereas Kodak was a film/camera company. When the market changed Fujifilm was able to pivot easier because they didn't see the move to digital as changing the fundamental purpose of the company, but Kodak wasn't quite as flexible since it was a more existential change.

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u/ElFuckito 18d ago

Right. That's probably also the case with Yamaha that makes just about anything.

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u/InternationalReserve 17d ago

Technically Yamaha motor company is seperate from the Yamaha corporation that makes musical instruments and audio equipment. Yamaha's parent company was contracted by the government to manufacture equipment for the war effort during WWII and after the war they decided to repupose the factories for motorcycles and the like.

Everyone points to Yamaha making both musical instruments and motorcycles, but tend to overlook some of the truly absurd Japanese conglomerates like Mitsubishi which among many other industries is involved in banking, realestate development, and insurance.

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u/DehydratedManatee 17d ago

Correct. Mitsubishi even makes fighter jets, including the F‐15J, the Japanese version of the F‐15.