EUROPEAN COOPERATION ABSOLUTE MUST - PHILIPS
European countries
must cooperate closely if they want to save their electronics
industry from dropping to a third-rate global position, NV
Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken <PLGO.AS> chairman Cor van der
Klugt told a congress here.
    Noting that Europe was now a net importer of Integrated
Circuits, Van der Klugt said that in information technology,
the European Community had posted a trade deficit in 1984 of
five billion ecus compared with a 1975 surplus of 1.7 billion
ecus.
    Such factors were forcing European electronics companies to
seek cooperation with others both inside and outside Europe.
    Van der Klugt cited Western Europe's joint high-technology
research programme ESPRIT, sponsored by the European Community,
as a useful programme for what he called "pre-competitive
cooperation" with other companies in the same or related fields.
    The Philips president said companies should join such
efforts in an attempt to gain a foothold in markets of
strategic importance such as the U.S. And Japan.
    Working together, firms could produce on a larger scale and
more cheaply by sharing business risks and pooling together
development, marketing and production activities, he said.
    As an example, Van der Klugt pointed to Philips'
telecommunications joint venture with AT and T <T.N> of the
U.S. To form <APT>, working on digital telephone exchange
projects.
    "Only the largest companies can recoup the billions of
dollars involved in development in this area," he said, adding
that the world market offered room for no more than seven or
eight manufacturers of such products.
 Reuter
