著者

ドンゼ ピエール=イブ

出版者

Business History Society of Japan

雑誌

経営史学 (ISSN:03869113)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.44, no.4, pp.4_3-4_27, 2010 (Released:2012-03-23)

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Unlike its American and Japanese rivals, the Swiss watch making industry did not adopt the form of the big enterprise in the 20th century but organized itself as an industrial district. Whereas it dominated 90% of world market around 1900, the Swiss watch making industry accounted a total of 663 firms (1901), of which only seven employed more than 500 workers. They were mainly small family firms specialized in a single part of the process of production which was characterized by a horizontal and vertical division of labor.Moreover, an original feature of this industry was the set up of a cartel during the interwar, with the aim to protect its industrial district structure, on the one hand, and to control technology transfer, on the other hand. The raise of protectionism throughout the world after 1918 led indeed to a tendency of exporting unfinished watches and to assemble them within the countries where there were sold, a practice known as chablonnage. This technology transfer sustained the expansion of rival companies, especially in the US and in Japan. In order to put an end to such a practice, the Swiss watch makers gathered in unions which adopted in 1928 some agreements which the main objectives were to ban chablonnage and to maintain in Switzerland an organization as an industrial district. These agreements were strengthened by the set up in 1931 of a holding company for controlling parts and movements makers (ASUAG) and by the intervention of the State which legalized this cartel (1934).Nevertheless, this cartelization could not prevent the appearance of newcomers after 1945, particularly in the US and in Japan. The cartel was eventually abandoned in the 1960's, in order to make it possible a modernization of the structures of the Swiss watch making industry to improve its competitiveness on the world market.

著者

ドンゼ ピエール=イブ

出版者

社会経済史学会

雑誌

社会経済史学 (ISSN:00380113)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.77, no.3, pp.407-423, 2011-11-25 (Released:2017-05-19)

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本稿では,服部時計グループを事例として,日本における高精度時計の大量生産の成立過程を,戦時期から1950年代を中心に,その前史たる戦前期の状況にも言及しながら分析する。1920年代以降,服部時計による小型時計生産は拡大をとげたが,生産されたのはスイス時計の模倣品であり,またその生産において,同社は中核部品と工作機械をスイス等の国外に依存していた。敗戦後,同社は軍需品生産の経験を持つ大卒エンジニアを採用し,互換性部品に基づく高精度時計の大量生産を目指した。同社や関連の企業は,産官学の連携に基づく共同研究の成果にも支えられ,1950年代半ばに,部品の互換性と,中核部品や工作機械の国産化を実現した。これにより同社は,技術的な対外依存から解放された。1956年に同社が開発した腕時計(Marvel)は,互換性に基づく大量生産品であるにもかかわらず,スイス製品並みの高い精度を誇り,1970年代に同社がクォーツ革命という製品革新を実現するまで,同社の国際競争力を支えた。