Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/06/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 08:25 AM 6/4/98 +0900, Ken Lisaka wrote: >Many, many years ago, during and not long after the MacArthur era, >foreign corporations were made to partner with their Japanese >competitor, not too much unlike the current Australian law. Thus were >born Hoya-Schott, Sumitomo-3M, Fuji-Xerox, etc. Foreign corporations >were given access to the manufacturing facilities in Japan, while >Japanese corporations had a greater access to knowhows. While this >restriction is long gone, many firms, including all three of the above, >decided to remain together. > I am relatively certain that this restriction is still in place -- both Ford and Kodak were forced to take Japanese partners before being allowed to market in Japan. That was the principal complaint Kodak had in their recent trade dispute. In any event, it has been well known for years that a Schott imports its chemicals and glasses from a number of sources outside of Germany, as well as using internal production. (Germany, for instance, produces virtually no tungsten, so any optical glasses containing this have to be made from "imported" materials.) Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!