Kodak film plant exclusion from Japan (late 1970s–1980s)

Tom's classic case for how Japanese non-tariff barriers protected Fuji's rise. Kodak's request to build a Japanese film plant was never answered.

It doesn't really matter now because we're in digital photography, but around 1980 — the late 70s — Kodak wanted to build a plant in Japan to make photographic film. In order to build a plant in Japan you had to get permission from the Japanese government. And the Japanese government has never said yes or no to Kodak. Of course Kodak's about bankrupt now, if they're not bankrupt already. But at the time it was estimated that if Kodak could have come in and started producing film in Japan, they could have kept Fujifilm from ever becoming a dominant world player. But the Japanese government just never answered Kodak's request. They're still waiting for an answer. Of course Kodak doesn't want to build a film plant anywhere now — no one wants to build a film plant anywhere — but from 40 years ago we're still waiting for a response.