If we ask simply whether Japanese business has changed, our answer must be an unequivocal yes and this is answered?with a primary focus on technology, the traditional source of Japan's strong competitiveness. But if we ask whether Japanese firms have?also changed in any substantive ways we must accept a less sanguine conclusion.Introduction; H.Miyoshi? & Y.Nakata The Evolution of Japan's Semiconductor Industry: Searching for Global Advantage; C.Brown? & G.Linden The Japanese Enterprise Software Industry: An Evolutionary and Comparative Perspective; R.E.Cole? & S.Fushimi The Evolution of Japan's Human-Resource Management; M.Ishida? & A.Sato Have Japanese Engineers Changed?; Y.Nakata? & S.Miyazaki Strategic Alliances in the Japanese Economy: Types, Critiques, Embeddedness and Change; J.R.Lincoln? & E.W.Choi R&D Management in Japanese Manufacturing Firms: Technology Trade, R&D Outsourcing, and Joint R&D; A.Kawaura? & D.Miyamoto Foreign Direct Investment and Management in Japan: The Impact of Japanese Corporations' Foreign Direct Investment Strategies on Managerial Decisions and Corporate Performance in Japan: An Analysis Based on Corporate-Level Microdata; J.Ma Why Do Japanese Companies File Patents in China? Empirical Findings from Japanese Firm-level Data; Y.Nakata ?& X.Zhang Changing Ownership and Governance Innovation: Japanese Enterprises in Transition; A.M.Colpan, T.Hikino ?& T.Yoshikawa Why Do Japanese Companies Issue Stock Options? Behind the Introduction of Stock Options in Japan: Theory of Shareholder Sovereignty vs. Theory of Managerial Sovereignty; H.Miyoshi? & T.Nakao Automotive Technology Policy in Japan; M.Kii, H.Miyoshi? & M.Sano Science and Technology Policy in Japan; T.ArimotoTATEO ARIMOTO Director-General of the Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society (RISTEX) and Deputy Director-General of the Centre for R&D Strategy in the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)CLAIR BROl3