Until 1982, Data General's Japanese affiliate existed to adapt the parent company's u.S. computers for Japanese customers. Then Data General, based in Westboro, Mass., increased its stake in Nippon Data General to 85% from 50% ; it also expanded the unit's role in world-wide product development. The payoff came ... when the company introduced the first portable computer with a screen as big as those on desk-top computers.
"In Japan, they are masters of putting things into small packages," says Ronald W. Pipe, the project manager for the Data General/One portable computer. The device, which weighs less than 11 pounds, fits in a briefcase. The technology for the fullsize liquid crystal display screen came out of Japan's digitalwatch industry. Just as critical was the "surface mounting" manufacturing technique developed in Japan's consumer-electronics industry ....
Robert C. Miller, a senior vice president of the company, knows the advantages of international research efforts but says they are not easy to bring off. "Managing R&D on an international scale is tougher than manufacturing, where you basically send your overseas plant a recipe," he says. "In research, there is no recipe, and you can't manage results day by day."
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