The Nichiei Bussan–ITW joint venture (1967)

Borrowed technology, and the line that was drawn

The essence of this joint venture was an exchange of technology for market. A trading house that owned neither plastic-fastener patents nor mass-production know-how borrowed the whole set from an American company already ahead of it, and arrived in time for the volume production of Japanese cars and appliances. The price was not only royalties but a line drawn around where it was allowed to sell: the Far East, and no further. For as long as the Japanese market kept growing, that line was the kind of cost that is not easily felt.

The borrower caught up within a decade. Nifco accumulated patents of its own and through joint development with Toyota, Nissan and Sony, and by the end of 1976 had the contract terms revised in its own favour. Still the territorial line remained. In a 1979 lecture, the regions Ogasawara listed as open to Nifco numbered four: Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea. Removing that line entirely took thirty-five years from founding.