Introduction

The basic purpose of this study has been to establish the impacts of Japanese and European nontariff barriers (NTBs) on the international marketing, investment, and technology strategies of small- to medium-sized high-technology U.S. firms. The context for the study is an increasing concern about NTBs as impediments to international marketing by U.S. companies, the contribution of these impediments--modest though it may be—to the huge imbalance in our international trade, and the growing presence of the Japanese in leading-edge industries, a presence viewed here in both international commercial and strategic terms. The ongoing bilateral discussions with the Japanese on high-technology access to Japanese markets, and U.S. efforts to place high-technology trade on the agenda for the upcoming multilateral trade negotiations, are manifestations of this increased concern. This report, therefore, represents an effort to establish a broader and more detailed empirical basis for approaching these high-technology trade issues, with particular focus on those small- to medium-sized companies that frequently define the leading edge in these industries.