Verso una migliore comprensione dei percorsi di marketing relazionale delle imprese italiane high-tech in Giappone

This paper aims at providing a first base of knowledge for the analysis of the strategies adopted by the Italian companies investing in Japan in high technology industries. Despite the Italian industrial system being only marginally present in the Japanese market, in comparison to other European countries, interesting interaction dynamics are detectable between Japanese and Italian industrial companies active in medium and high-tech technology sectors. By adopting the Uppsala model for internationalization and the IMP Group relationship marketing perspective, four case studies of Italian companies who successfully invested in Japan are addressed. Beyond analyzing companies? activities in Japan and their integration in local supply chains adopting a stage-based approach, the paper offers a view of Japan as a "learning market" for the investing firms, especially in terms of acquired competitive advantages and potential gains to be exploited also in other attractable markets for their business.