Strategic innovation in traditional big business: case study of communications business in Japan

Abstract

This paper presents a case study of how, over the last six years a large, a traditional corporation simultaneously created new service markets and established a dominant position in the competitive information and communication technology field in Japan. The corporation accepted a new organizational body that has an entrepreneurial spirit and consists of different types of personnel, then the company continuously promoted entrepreneurial strategies based on time pacing. At the same time, in an attempt to implement strategic innovation, the company integrated the above strategies with deliberate strategies based on event‐based pacing practiced by the existing line organizational body. Through a case study, this paper discusses the factors for success and the problems encountered in the course of achieving strategic innovation in the communications field, i.e. the creation of a new market, through intentionally and strategically having, and furthermore integrating, paradoxical organizations and strategies under a single corporate umbrella.

Citation

Kodama, M. (2001), "Strategic innovation in traditional big business: case study of communications business in Japan", Management Decision, Vol. 39 No. 5, pp. 338-354. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251740110395615