According to a business week‘s 50 Most Innovative Companies article:
In the past decad
e, as the U.S. was losing an estimated 2.4 million factory jobs to China. The factories of South Korea, Taiwan, and China were making their way up the global value chain, from the sneakers, toys, and T-shirts they had produced in earlier years to personal computers, consumer electronics gear, household appliances, and even cars.
The article argues that even though 15 of the top 50 companies are from Asia, “Asia’s high-tech products were still generally regarded as inferior knockoffs of items designed in the U.S.”This might be true to some extent, but the only innovative high-tech companies that stands out in the U.S. is Apple, Google, and Microsoft (which finished 1st 2nd 3rd respectively in the ranking.) Asian companies such as Toyota, Sony, LG, Samsung, and even smart phone makers, HTC do not seem as inferior knockoffs to me. Even if this is the case, looking at the growth of Asian companies from dominating clothing/ sneaker production, to taking over the electronics and cars production, it is will not surprise me if Asian companies stand on top of the innovation category soon.
Read more on http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_17/b4175034779697_page_2.htm and http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/innovative_companies_2010/?chan=magazine+channel_special+report