Kiminori Gemba

Diversification dynamics of the Japanese industry

Abstract The diversification dynamics of R&D activities and business of Japanese industry was analyzed. The diversification of R&D activities developed in many industries during the 1980s but did not develop well during the early 1990s. There were some industries of which diversification in business developed just as it followed their R&D activities. The direction of diversification in R&D activities and business was also analyzed. It was found that the direction of diversification for high-tech and scale-intensive industries was downstream. Furthermore, the relationship between “diversification” and “performance” was analyzed using quantitative methods. The analysis showed that profitability dropped generally in industries which were highly diversified in unrelated fields. On the other hand, the progression of diversification in unrelated fields contributed to high sales growth. In addition, according to the results of the case study and quantitative analysis, it was found that diversification strategy that expanded into downstream activities with core technology or core component technology contributed to increased profitability.

Significant difference of dependence upon scientific knowledge among different technologies

SummaryThe authors have constructed an original database of the full text of the Japanese Patent Gazette published since 1994. The database includes not only the front page but also the body text of more than 880,000 granted Japanese patents. By reading the full texts of all 1,500 patent samples, we found that some inventors cite many academic papers in addition to earlier patents in the body texts of their Japanese patents. Using manually extracted academic paper citations and patent citations as “right” answers, we fine-tuned a search algorithm that automatically retrieves cited scientific papers and patents from the entire texts of all the Japanese patents in the database. An academic paper citation in a patent text indicates that the inventor used scientific knowledge in the cited paper when he/she invented the idea codified in the citing patent. The degree of science linkage, as measured by the number of research papers cited in patent documents, is particularly strong in biotechnology. Among other types of technology, those related to photographic-sensitized material, cryptography, optical computing, and speech recognition also show strong science linkage. This suggests that the degree of dependence on scientific knowledge differs from technology to technology and therefore, different ways of university-industry collaboration are necessary for different technology fields.

Enhanced co-citation analysis using frameworks

Abstract The valuation of intangible assets, such as patents, has recently been considered an important technique for R&D strategies. This paper proposes a citation analysis as a method of valuation on patent clusters having patent networks. A citation analysis is a method that examines the value of a patent on the basis of the number of citations of references. In particular, a co-citation analysis is used for coupling patents as the patent cluster and valuating the patent cluster. While the co-citation analysis is of great interest as a method of valuation, this analysis has not been fully examined and does not define any framework for a technology transition and patent strategy. Therefore, in this paper, the conventional co-citation analysis for evaluating the patent clusters is enhanced and frameworks for the technology transition and patent strategy are proposed by analysing citation routes in a co-citation analysis.

Analysis of propensity to patent and science-dependence of large Japanese manufacturers of electrical machinery

SummaryThe paper aims to clarify the extent to which the results of scientific-oriented research conducted by corporations are reflected in their application-oriented research. Focusing on large Japanese manufacturers of electrical machinery, the paper analyses firm-level data on presentations of scientific papers that represent the results of scientific-oriented research activities, citations of scientific papers in patents, and inventions. The electrical machinery industry, a prototypical science-based industry, has been placing a growing emphasis on scientific-oriented research during the 1990s as is evident from trends in R&D expenses, scientific papers, and inventions. Regression analysis results suggest a complementary relationship between citations of basic scientific knowledge as presented in scientific papers on the one hand and acts of invention on the other hand, in the sense that a rise in citations corresponds to a rise in inventions. Moreover, the results suggest that invention efficiency (number of patent claims per unit of R&D expenditure) has been increasing during the 1990s. Furthermore, the results suggest that, given the exogenous influences on the patent system in Japan, it is necessary to include the number of patent claims when attempting to measure corporate technology development activity through the volume of patent applications. However, there was no finding of a clear relationship between the number of scientific papers and inventions. Implications of these results for corporate R&D strategy are examined.

A competitive product development strategy using modular architecture for product and service systems

Many recent studies have shown that it is difficult for manufacturing companies to succeed by selling only standardised products. The product service system (PSS) concept has been widely discussed as a way of satisfying a range of individual user needs and thus improving profits. However, studies have been focused on PSS as a marketing strategy. This paper explores how to improve PSS performance through an analysis of product architecture. We examine two specific cases that exemplify the PSS characteristics that lead to the generation of competitive advantage. We conclude with the suggestion that companies should improve PSS performance by adopting modular product architecture, a strategy that can extend and diversify services and add value to products.

The timing of interorganisational collaborations in an emerging biopharmaceutical field: evidence from Japan in comparison to the remaining RNAi field

This study investigates the timing of interorganisational collaboration in biopharmaceutical research and development. Although many studies emphasised the importance of collaboration in this industry, very few relied on considerable data to explore its timing. We focus on the emerging field of biopharmaceuticals, the RNA interference (RNAi) drugs, and longitudinally analysed relevant published data on worldwide pre-market collaboration. It is revealed that there are boundaries between independence and external collaboration in the firms and the entire field. Firms, after converting their initial product designs into concrete drug candidates, collaborated with external organisations to strengthen their future competitiveness. Collaboration shifted technologies toward the downstream of the value chain. These results suggest that foresight into future needs and problems will help encourage competitiveness. Currently, however, Japanese organisations would pursue collaboration to enter into the new field. As an industry, it is necessary to consider what activity could link to its future competitiveness.

Implicit patent alliance acquiring the appropriability of innovation

This paper proposes a new innovation management scheme called “implicit patent alliance,” and discusses its effectiveness and the conditions required to enact such a scheme with case study of inkjet printers. “Implicit patent alliance” is a patent management scheme in order to create appropriability of innovation. In many markets except a few such as medicine and chemicals, essential patents may not help patentees to dominate the market, because products consist of many essential patents distributed among companies. This situation gives opportunity for many companies to enter the market, and makes the existing patent system ineffective in the process of innovation appropriability. If few companies have essential patents and they cross-license only among them and do not license to their competitors that have no essential patent, a collection of these cross-licenses would work as a virtual alliance which can occupy essential patents. We call this virtual alliance “implicit patent alliance”. Implicit patent alliance is capable to create appropriability of innovation thanks to occupying essential patents even in the markets such as electronics and machinery where one product consists of many patents. In the ink-jet printer market, three patentees of essential patents, Canon, EPSON and Hewlett-Packard, have been in the relation of cross-license only among them. They did not license to outside alliance and dominated the market.

Identifying customer satisfaction estimators using review mining

In recent years, various methods have been developed which enable organisations to collect information on customer sentiments, perceptions, and demands. However, these methods do not provide practical guidance for utilising this information to offer superior products and services to their customers. Given this oversight, the current study proposes a new method for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of products or services by using language-processing software on product reviews. We use an online review site, Skytrax, to collect user reviews related to economy class flights for four airlines. We then analyse the language inherent in these reviews to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each airline. The results of the analyses may assist in reconciling discrepancies between customer expectations and their perceptions of products or services.

Hotel classification visualization using natural language processing of user reviews

The number of consumer-generated media etc has increased rapidly because of the diffusion of the Internet. Moreover, word-of-mouth communication has increased as well. However, many enterprises are unable to effectively analyze such information to offer better products and services to their customers. To address this strategic deficiency, some enterprises have analyzed these communication trends as a means to improve the quality of the services they provide, and thus, increase customer satisfaction. Accor Hotels, for example, relies on a consulting firm to analyze word-of-mouth communication with the aim of improving the quality of the companys services. Given these trends, the objective of this study was to use a technique called natural language processing to analyze word-of-mouth communication among consumers regarding their experiences with various hotels. Further, we seek to categorize and visualize language patterns on the basis of the value the hotel enterprises provide for their customers.

Competitive strategy of family businesses through CSV – case study of a family business in Mie Prefecture, Japan

Many companies, not only in Japan but also around the world, are family businesses and are the main drivers of the economy. For any revitalisation of local communities, the innovation of regional companies is indispensable and if such innovation is realised through regional partnerships and leads to a solution of the challenges confronted in the region and the society at large, it will realise the best possible scenario by which both the society and businesses will prosper. In other words, it is not appropriate for a company to pursue only its own interests. Michael E. Porter has proposed the concept of creating shared value (CSV) and pointed out the importance of sharing values with the regional community. This paper proposes a hypothesis in which CSV, which is important for business management, can also become a source of competitive advantage for companies and analyses the strategic management of a family business in Mie Prefecture. Through detailed case studies, the paper demonstrates that CSV can become an effective competitive strategy for family business and also clarifies conditions for CSV to generate sources of competitive advantage.