From Global to National: Manufacturing Strategies in the US, China, Germany and Japan in Comparative Perspective

Since the 2008 global crisis, the focus of industrial policy has shifted to manufacturing strategy in the main economies in the world. In this paper, we examine the national manufacturing strategies of the US, Germany, Japan and China from the analytical perspective of varieties of capitalism and the developmental state in order to have a better understanding of the strategy plans and implementation as a mode of regulation and their impacts on each country’s mode of production and accumulation. We find that the manufacturing strategies of the four countries overlap considerably in terms of industry targeting and that China’s Made in China 2025 master plan is the most comprehensive strategy for developing the entire advanced sectors. While the US and Germany have primarily put in place a bottom-up process of strategy implementation led by enterprises, China has adopted a top-down approach, similar to its earlier national policy initiatives in high-technology industries. Compared to other nations, Japan is weak in implementation for domestic macroeconomic and structural reasons. For all four countries, while there is a superficial convergence in terms of the structure of their manufacturing strategy plans, the mechanisms for monitoring implementation still differ because each national manufacturing strategy is deeply embedded in the existing institutions and economic structures. Apparently, through the implementation of national manufacturing strategies, the world of capitalism is increasingly dominated by two extreme varieties: a revised model of the liberal market economy, represented by the US, and a reinforced of developmental state model, exemplified by China. This bipolarization of varieties of capitalism suggests there will be a new round of competition between manufacturing powers.