Technological diversity of persistent innovators in Japan: Two case studies of large Japanese firms

We have investigated two large Japanese firms with their patent data, technological histories and product sales data of over 30 years especially in terms of intra-firm technology diversification and interactions between multiple technological trajectories. Patent data showed the process of emergencies of technological trajectories and interactions (cross-fertilization) between them quantitatively. Both persistence and diversity of technology have contributed to product diversification and sales growth. Based on our findings we have demonstrated that taking advantage of economies of scope in technology through persistence and diversification is necessary for a technology-based firm if it is to survive and to grow for a prolonged period of time. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[1]  Franco Malerba,et al.  Schumpeterian Patterns of Innovation , 1995 .

[2]  O. Granstrand,et al.  Multi-Technology Corporations: Why They Have “Distributed” Rather Than “Distinctive Core” Competencies , 1997 .

[3]  H. Grupp.  Spillover effects and the science base of innovations reconsidered: an empirical approach , 1996 .

[4]  Kim B. Clark,et al.  Architectural Innovation: The Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of , 1990 .

[5]  Kiminori Gemba,et al.  Diversification dynamics of the Japanese industry , 2001 .

[6]  A. Gambardella,et al.  Does technological convergence imply convergence in markets? Evidence from the electronics industry , 1998 .

[7]  F. Malerba,et al.  Knowledge-relatedness in firm technological diversification , 2003 .

[8]  F. Malerba,et al.  Technological Regimes and Firm Bebavior , 1993 .

[9]  K. Pavitt,et al.  The technological competencies of the world''s largest firms , 1997 .

[10]  Luigi Orsenigo,et al.  The persistence of innovative activities: A cross-countries and cross-sectors comparative analysis , 2001 .

[11]  Franco Malerba,et al.  Schumpeterian patterns of innovation are technology-specific , 1996 .

[12]  F. Kodama,et al.  Technological Diversification of Japanese Industry , 1986, Science.

[13]  C. Prahalad,et al.  Competing for the Future , 1994 .

[14]  Ove Granstrand,et al.  Towards a theory of the technology-based firm 1 Paper originally presented at the workshop on `Techn , 1998 .

[15]  D. Leonard-Barton.  CORE CAPABILITIES AND CORE RIGIDITIES: A PARADOX IN MANAGING NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT , 1992 .

[16]  Bart Verspagen,et al.  MERIT concordance table: IPC - ISIC (rev.2) , 1994 .

[17]  Bart Verspagen,et al.  Measuring intersectoral technology spillovers estimates from the European and US patent office databases , 1997 .

[18]  Franco Malerba,et al.  Technological entry, exit and survival: an empirical analysis of patent data , 1999 .

[19]  Kumiko Miyazaki.  Building Competences in the Firm , 1995 .

[20]  Keith Pavitt,et al.  Technological Accumulation, Diversification and Organisation in UK Companies, 1945-1983 , 1989 .