著者
平井 孝志
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.47, pp.46-60, 2021 (Released:2022-09-21)
参考文献数
34

Dynamic capabilities framework is becoming increasingly important for both sustainable competitive advantage and continuous superior business performance. In engaging dynamic capabilities, R&D activities plays an important role. Contribution of R&D investments to scale growth has been confirmed in past empirical studies, but its effect on profitability improvement remains inconclusive. This ambiguous result might be due to inadequate approaches to measuring the causal relationship between R&D investments and business performance. This study examines a dynamic model from the perspective of dynamic capabilities to understand the effect of R&D investments on profitability through an empirical analysis of large Japanese manufacturers. By introducing a dynamic capability perspective, we identified that long-term, disequilibrium development and circular logic are key attributes for understanding improvement of profitability. Our model also clarified how the impact of R&D activities on profitability should be measured. For the empirical analysis, we investigated the performance of 189 publicly-traded manufacturers in Japan over a period of 27 years from 1989 to 2015. The three major findings are (1) companies which continuously increased R&D intensity improved profitability in the long run; (2) R&D intensity generated larger impact on incremental profitability in R&D intensive industries; and (3) cycles of fluctuation were 4.1 years for R&D intensity, 4.0 years for operating income, and 5.1 years for sales. Our findings suggest that, even while the importance of open innovation is being touted, R&D intensity should be increased slightly but continuously to strengthen R&D activities to enhance dynamic capabilities and achieve higher profitability. Paradoxically, even in today's environment of uncertainty and accelerated change, companies may need to take a long-term view of managing disequilibrium development with a timespan of about 10 years, including 2 to 3 fluctuation cycles.
著者
脇 拓也
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.48, pp.58-71, 2021 (Released:2022-12-16)
参考文献数
27

Based on the premise that humans are bounded ethical beings, Bazerman (M.H. Bazerman) and Tenbrunsel (A.E. Tenbrunsel) posit that “ethical blind spots” and “ethical breakdown” occur. Both these concepts are important, and useful, when analyzing corporate scandals. However, there are several issues regarding how to respond to the ethical issues proposed by Bazerman and Tenbrunsel. To solve these problems, this paper analyzes the two-level utilitarianism based on preference utilitarianism, also known as preferentialism, as posited by Hare (R.M. Hare) and further informed by Popper's (K.R. Popper) critical rationalism. Thus, it is necessary to make the behavioral ethics developed by Bazerman and Tenbrunsel a more logical and consistent theory. This was achieved by solving ethical problems, that occur because of the bounded nature of human ethics, through the hierarchical viewpoint of Hare, and then is further informed by Popper's critical rationalism. The purpose of this paper then, is to clarify this research. First, after considering the “ethical blind spots” and “ethical breakdown” as posited by Bazerman and Tenbrunsel based on humanity's ethically bounded nature, the problems in their theories are highlighted. Then, it was explained that to solve this problem, the two-level utilitarianism theory based on preference utilitarianism by Hare would be necessary for addressing the ethical problems that were presented. However, when the problems with his theory were considered, Popper's critical rationalism was applied to improve Hare's theory. Finally, it became possible to address ethical problems such as “ethical blind spots” and “ethical breakdown” brought about by the bonded nature of human ethics.
著者
藤原 雅俊
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.22, pp.3-14, 2008-10-10 (Released:2017-08-01)

The aim of this paper is to find out the untouched common research site in innovation research and Resource-Based View. So far these two types of researches have developed independently, and each of them has created many specific problems gradually. However, since they are essentially close to each other, we try to point out each problem and to integrate innovation research and RBV. To achieve this purpose, we mainly review two researches on innovation and Resource-Based View. The structure of this paper is as following; in the first section, we review papers about technological change and its impact on competition. We show that researchers rarely take account of whether established firm is diversified or not. Therefore, they fail to analyze the merit of diversified firm in adapting to technological change. In the second section, we review researches on RBV, especially dealing with diversification strategy. We present that many researchers regard a technology as given so that they tend to focus heavily on technological relationship among divisions. As a result, they rarely refer to the possibility of creating new technologies and also the possibility of losing the value of existing technologies. In the final section, we declare that innovation research and RBV have a common research site. This site stems from those two researches separately, but can contribute to both of them simultaneously. We conclude that this untouched field is not sterile but worth cultivating.
著者
吉田 悠記子
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.45, pp.29-42, 2020 (Released:2021-09-01)
参考文献数
38

What value can startups derive from investment by non-financial companies? It has been revealed that venture capital (hereinafter VC) provides not only capital but also various supports for early growth of startups (Carpenter and Petersen, 2002). Financial companies including banks are also analyzed as the source of capital for startups, especially in terms of their differences from VC (Winton and Yerramilli, 2008; Marcus et al, 2013). In addition, the importance of open innovation is increasing (Chesbrough, 2003). Because of non-financial company’s benefits by collaborating with startups, the investment ratio of non-financial companies is still high. However, the impact caused by non-financial companies on the growth of startups has not been fully clarified in previous research. Based on the institutional logic and the resourced-based view, this study analyzed the impact caused by non-financial companies as well as VC and financial companies on initial public offerings (hereinafter IPOs) of startups. This study analyzes the data of startups that went public on the Japanese stock exchange from 2007 to 2009. The dependent variable is the period up to IPO, which is an indicator of the speed of growth of startup. The independent variables are the investment ratios of five types of investors before IPO, non-financial companies, financial companies, corporate venture capital (hereinafter CVC) by non-financial companies, CVC by financial companies and independent VC, which are indicators of impact caused by investors. As a result, it is confirmed that the period until IPO is shortened when the investment ratio of non-financial company is high. This means that the growth of the startup up to IPO was promoted earlier because of the investment by non-financial companies. The contribution of this research is that it has clarified the impacts for the growth of startup caused by non-financial companies, under the situation with several types’ investors.
著者
中川 功一 福地 宏之 小阪 玄次郎 秋池 篤 小林 美月 小林 敏男
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
巻号頁・発行日
no.34, pp.3-14, 2014-12-10

This study investigates a microfoundation of the structural change of business ecosystem. While previous studies point out environmental shocks and subsequent entrepreneurial behaviors, we focus on the effect of several actors' interactions within the ecosystem. By using the concept of Weick (1979)' s enactment, we build up the chain reaction framework of multiplayers' interpretation and action. Through an in-depth case study of the transition of Silicon Valley ecosystem from an IPO-centered model to a M&A-centered one, we illustrates how startups, established business companies, venture capitals and research institutes interact each other and how those interactions effect on ecosystem transition.
著者
坂爪 裕
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
巻号頁・発行日
no.16, pp.95-110, 2006-04-20

The purpose of this study is to identify the mechanisms behind advantages and conditions for successful implementation of assembly cells from the viewpoint of the theory of division of labor. In this study, the implementation of assembly cells is considered as a change in the way the division of labor takes place; that is, from a functional division of labor to a parallel division of labor. Drawing on this idea, hypotheses were extracted with respect to its mechanisms behind advantages and conditions capable of tolerating disadvantages in assembly cells. By applying these hypotheses, case studies of eight manufacturing companies in Japan were conducted. As a result of case studies, seven different types of mechanisms behind advantages were identified: 1) facilitating coordination with other functions and processes; 2) accelerating learning because of the ease of understanding whole process of work; 3) reducing the loss of the division of functions and processes; 4) reducing the adjustment required to respond to uncertain market conditions; 5) reducing the adjustment required to respond to uncertain conditions within organizations; 6) attaining increased competition through the parallel division of work; and 7) reducing the diversity within the parallel groups involved. Case studies also identified seven different types of conditions capable of tolerating disadvantages: 1) tolerating the deterioration of specialized worker skills; 2) tolerating the wasteful use of resources until the workers reach a certain level of proficiency; 3) tolerating the interruption of work when switching to another function or process; 4) tolerating the restrained development of function-specific tools and equipment; 5) tolerating the restrained use of low-cost labor that is appropriate to the level of proficiency; 6) tolerating the redundancy of resources; and 7) tolerating an increased adjustment of resources shared with the preceding and subsequent processes.
著者
李 〓泰
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
巻号頁・発行日
no.17, pp.75-86, 2006-09-01

This study examines the effects of dissected country of origin (CO)-country of assembly (CA), country of component (CC) and country of design (CD)-and consumers' usage experience for the product class on consumer brand evaluation (beliefs and attitudes) of digital cameras. Although many studies of country of origin effects have been reported, few have addressed the multidimensional concept of the country of origin variable. Country of origin may include concepts such as "Designed in," "Assembled in" or "Part made in" due to the rapid increase of today's global products. As for consumers' product experience, previous studies show that it has a salient influence on consumers' product evaluations. This study employed a 2(CA) X 2(CC) X 2(CD) design for experienced group (255 students) and non-experienced group (260 students). Utilizing the brand CANON (Digital Camera), the treatments of CA, CC and CD were positive for Japan and negative for China respectively. Empirical results show as follows; first, all CO related cues had a direct influence on beliefs and attitudes regardless of consumer experience for the product class. Second, there was a salient difference between experienced and non-experienced group on the utilization of three CO related cues. Respondents of non-experienced group showed a marked tendency to take account of a specific cue (CD) especially on their evaluations. On the other hand, respondents of experienced group showed a tendency to take account of three cues overall. Finally, three-way-interaction among CA, CC and CD showed that a negative effect of CA (CO) was offset when CC and CD were all positive. These results may suggest a strategic implication that negative CO effect may be controlled by the appeal of positive CC and CD.
著者
柳町 功
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌
巻号頁・発行日
no.5, pp.77-89, 2000-05-30

It is the aim of this paper to review the backgrounds and features of corporate restructuring that has been undertaken in Korean big business groups, or chaebol, in 1990's. We can explain the traditional structure of Korean chaebol from two features such as absolutely closed ownership by founder on his family, and highly diversified business structure. Through recent corporate restructuring we can confirm that traditional features in Korean chaebol has been changing. Corporate restructuring can be explained from two aspects such as "inside" factors and "outside" factors. As inside factors, for example, we can point out two major changes, such as the wealth inheritance and distribution among the chaebol families, and aggressive restructuring drive aimed for the world best company. And as outside factors we can consider stepped up the Kim Dae-jung administration's policy for chaebol reform. In the last two years after the onset of Korea's IMF crisis, many chaebols have successfully overcome the worst recession through painful reforms. But among the largest five chaebols, the Daewoo group, which was famous for its "globalization strategy" and "emperor-management style" by chairman Kim Woo-choong, collapsed in the summer 1999. In the top-four chaebol, the Samsung group is undisputedly the best "role model" in Korea's corporate restructuring drive. Samsung's corporate restructuring can be explained from the two aspects above mentioned. Other groups, Hyundai, LG, and SK are also highly estimated in their successful restructuring efforts by President Kim Dae-jung and the government. In early January 1998, President-elect Kim Dae-jung and five tycoons of Korean largest chaebols agreed to drastically reform their business practices. The five-point accord, which became the main targets of President Kim's chaebol-policy, was as follows: to hold chaebol leaders more accountable for their managerial performances, to boost managerial transparency, to improve their financial health, to focus on core businesses and to eliminate loan guarantees among affiliates. And at the end of August 1999, President Kim has started new three reform programs. These new measures are aimed at restricting the chaebol's control of the non-banking financial sector, barring them from circular cross-unit equity investment and inside trading and checking illegal inheritances and the transfer of wealth among chaebol family members. As a whole, these government-pressured policies are very severe. But the most important point is not the government policy but the chaebol's understanding of crisis and their positive attitude for reforming themselves in order to survive intensifying global competition.
著者
會澤 綾子
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.51, pp.18-31, 2022-12-20 (Released:2023-12-23)
参考文献数
43

There is a case to be made for organizations adopting ethical norms; it has been shown to be seen as legitimate even when it is symbolic. Institutional isomorphism means that the organization type is the same; it does not necessarily mean that the organizational activities are also homogeneous. In this study, I conduct a comparative analysis of the impact of institutional isomorphism and the diversity of organizational activities using the compliance system. The eight companies that were selected vary in size and industry and are isomorphic in terms of their type, but their organizational activities are diverse; these are divided into first-stage activities such as regulations, second-stage activities such as education and training, and third-stage small-group activities conducted at site. Five of the eight companies have brought about changes in their organizational activities in response to past scandals, which are of three types: (1) systems improvement, (2) elimination of misconduct, and (3) company-wide response. However, two of the five companies that had implemented systems development and elimination of misconduct reported yet another incident. The behavior that was reported was not a clear-cut deviation from the norm, and it is highly likely that the individuals involved do not consider their behavior to be deviant or errant. While some corrupt practices are clear violations of the norm, there are others that are difficult to categorize as such and fall into a grey area. Hence, there should be diversification of activities within the organization to prevent a range of corrupt practices, which is possible even in an isomorphic system.
著者
谷口 諒 高田 直樹 村瀬 俊朗
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.51, pp.32-46, 2022-12-20 (Released:2023-12-23)
参考文献数
60

Innovation starts with creative ideas. While creativity and innovation have been separately studied, a growing body of work examines the process of creativity leading to innovation. There are a variety of problems in that process. One of them is the selection of creative ideas. Some experimental studies have shown that idea selection is a difficult task due to the cognitive tendency of individuals. This difficulty is exacerbated for managers since their cognitive resources are limited. If managers fail to correctly perceive and select highly creative ideas among many alternatives, creativity does not lead to innovations. Thus, as prior literature does, idea selection by managers is worth examining. However, idea selection by idea generators matters as well. Since the pool of ideas that managers evaluate consists of ones that idea generators propose, organizations cannot enjoy their employees' creativity if idea generators fail to select highly creative ideas among those they generate. Although this possibility has been mentioned in existing studies, little attention has been paid to idea selection by idea generators, in particular teams, that generated those ideas. In this paper, we develop a theoretical model of team idea selection, focusing on the diversity of members, psychological safety, and psychological ownership. While the former two concepts have been shown to contribute to idea generation (creativity), we argue that those can impede effective idea selection. Moreover, psychological ownership can lead teams away from proper evaluation and selection of creative ideas. Our model implies the potential difficulties and paradoxes in selecting ideas that idea generator teams can face.
著者
鈴木 修
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.51, pp.47-61, 2022-12-20 (Released:2023-12-23)
参考文献数
54

It often is assumed that cognition of decision makers mediates influences of organizational slack on various phenomena observed at organizations, including innovation, risk taking, and organizational growth. However, the mediating role played by managerial cognition per se is rarely examined empirically. Accordingly, irrespective of rich empirical support for associations between organizational slack and various organizational phenomena, we have yet fully understood underlying mechanisms of influences of organizational slack. Furthermore, it also is left underexamined whether the association between organizational slack and organizational phenomena is an indication of causal relationships in that the former is an antecedent of the latter. We aim to address this dearth of research by empirically examining whether managerial attention mediates influences of organizational slack on organizational growth. Our empirical analysis of the Japanese textile industry between 2004 and 2020 shows that attention of decision makers on external issues mediates the relationship between organizational slack and organizational growth. Specifically, we show that organizational slack is negatively associated with external attention of decision makers, while the external attention is positively associated with organizational growth. Our analyses address potential endogeneity of organizational slack to provide robust support for the hitherto unvalidated rationale employed by the prior work. The competitive mediation uncovered by our analysis may also help us to explain contradictory influences of organizational slack, or one of the unresolved questions in the research of organizational slack.
著者
尾﨑 浩一
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.51, pp.62-76, 2022-12-20 (Released:2023-12-23)
参考文献数
27

This study focuses on the direction of “exploration” and “exploitation” of ambidextrous management to improve business performance under limited business resources in a market that requires policy-oriented “exploration” efforts, and set the research question as “What is the direction of firms' ambidextrous management efforts under limited business resources in the policy-oriented market?”. By focusing on Stadtwerke, small and medium-sized energy companies in Germany, which are precedent cases in a market-oriented toward full liberalization of energy retailing and the exploration of renewable energy, this study examines how to tackle “exploration” and “exploitation” to improve business performance. The analysis of the derived hypotheses shows that the company's performance can be improved by “exploration” and “exploitation”. The following conclusions (1) to (4) were obtained from the analysis of the derived hypotheses. (1) In a market that requires exploration despite limited management resources, the less effort is made into exploration, the lower the performance of the company is. (2) In a market that requires exploration despite limited management resources, the more imitatively a company follows the business efforts of a large-scale predecessor that is in the practical stage of successful exploration, the less likely it is to improve its performance. (3) In a market that requires exploration despite limited management resources, the more exploration efforts are made using technologies in the practical stage, the better the performance of the company in question is. (4) In a market that requires exploration despite limited management resources, efforts are made to explore advanced technologies, and the performance of the company in question becomes low. The contribution of this research is that by adding the perspective of “under the certain directional market environment” to the previous research on “ambidextrous management”, it is possible to show that even businesses with limited management resources can improve their performance by not only pursuing “exploitation” through the framework of their existing business but also by engaging in “exploration” using technologies that are in the practical stage.
著者
水野 由香里
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.32, pp.82-93, 2013-11-20 (Released:2017-08-01)

This study examines the requirements for the retention of collective strategy among multiple companies without profit reciprocity. In general, the joint order system, which is a collective strategy method, has collapsed because it results in conflicts of power and interests among members. In such cases, members use the system only to generate profits; thus, the joint order system becomes a zero-sum game. However, there are some cases, like Kyoto Shisaku Net, where the joint order system has proven successful. The success of such a system can be attributed to relationship building with the intent to improve the ability to yield valuable results and maintain a non-zero-sum standpoint. Through the case study of Kyoto Shisaku Net, we confirmed three major requirements that need to be fulfilled if the joint order system is to be retained as a collective strategy. First, members must share the purpose of the joint order system as a collective strategy. However, an important addition to this fact is that the members should consider the joint order system as an opportunity to explore and exploit, rather than use it just to earn profits. Second, members should acquire different unique technologies, which will enable them share their roles and expertise. This, in turn, can help evade the possibilities of cannibalization, power opposition, and system collapse. Third, as an extension to the first point, mechanism to control and avoid opportunism should be embedded in the system. On one hand, members contribute to the joint order system by paying annual fees and performing their duties. On the other hand, they receive returns in the form of an enhancement in the dispatch and collection of information as well as scope of proposal development, an improvement in personal skills, strengths, and competitiveness, better possibilities of skill conversion on possession of technologies, and increased creativity, all of which will be helpful for running their companies' businesses in future. Thus, the results obtained by participating members are based not just on independent efforts, but on a collective strategy.
著者
内田 大輔 芦澤 美智子 軽部 大
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.50, pp.59-72, 2022-08-25 (Released:2023-08-26)
参考文献数
29

Business creation through the founding of new firms can drive significant economic growth, just as business creation by established firms can. Hence, fostering startups is indispensable for economic development. In Japan, since the beginning of the 2010s, much attention has been paid to startups, and their business environment has changed dramatically. One of the most distinctive changes is the emergence of accelerators, which originated in the United States in the 2000s and support startups in multiple ways. In response to the growth of the practical interest in accelerators, academic research on this subject has been accumulating in recent years. However, prior research fails to find consistent results regarding how accelerators aid the growth of startups and how they influence startup performance. This inconsistency implies that different characteristics of accelerators may have different influences on startups; in fact, recent research suggests that accelerators are heterogeneous rather than homogeneous in various dimensions. In this article, we focus on accelerator experience as one such characteristic and examine its role in the growth of startups. Specifically, through an empirical analysis using data from 38 accelerators in Japan, we hypothesized and found that the effect of accelerator experience on the amount of funding raised by startups participating in the accelerator program in the year after the end of the demo day is positive only for early-stage startups that had not yet raised sufficient funds before participating in the program. This result implies that accelerator programs are not necessarily effective across all stages of startups because the programs may be specialized for specific stages. To the best of our knowledge, this article is the first study that systematically analyzes accelerator programs in Japan; it contributes to the literature by clarifying the role of accelerator experience in the development of startups.
著者
鈴木 修
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.35, pp.41-53, 2015-07-10 (Released:2017-08-01)
被引用文献数
1

Organizational slack is excess resources that influence various organizational phenomena, including adaptation, formation of dominant coalition, political behaviors, centralization, bureaucracy, risk preferences and innovation. As for its influences on organizational performance, however, scholars disagree whether the relationship is positive, negative, or curvilinear. We empirically examined moderating effectes of environmental, as well as organizational characteristics to argue that the form of relationship between organizational slack and organizational performance differs by the degree of environmental variability, search width, and by organizational age. Our analyses of 37 Japanese pharmaceutical firms between 1991 and 2010 (616 firm-years) show that organizational slack more negatively influences organizational performance to the extent that environmental variability or search width increase. Organizational age also moderates the relationship such that older firms enjoy more positive influences of organizational slack while younger firms suffer from more negative influences. The results indicate that we may be able to reconcile mutually contradictory findings in prior work by taking environmental, as well as organizational characteristics into consideration. We also discuss our findings' implications on the relationship between organizational slack and the attention-based view of the firm.
著者
土橋 力也
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.43, pp.3-14, 2019 (Released:2020-11-01)
参考文献数
38

Scholars in the fields of management and economics note the importance of gaining users and achieving network effects in online C2C platforms (OCP). Although the extant literature stresses the importance of network effects and the “quantity” of users, another important factor in OCP—the “quality” of users—is often ignored. Poor quality users harm the platform's reputation; their presence makes potential users hesitant to join it. Thus, we thus build a framework for managing users' quality in OCP, and, then, analyze how managing users' quality affects trust in C2C platforms and the transaction intention of users. We build a framework for analyzing users' quality with two pairs of influential factors: ex-ante and ex-post, and top and bottom users. These two pairs lead to four quadrants. Quadrant 1 has ex-ante and bottom users; it signifies platform firms' behavior to restrict bad users from joining by ex-ante screening (entrance fees or some qualifications). Quadrant 2, which is ex-ante and top, signifies how platform firms attract superstars. Quadrant 3 is ex-post and top and signifies how platform firms educate and finally convert normal users to loyal ones. Quadrant 4—ex-post and bottom users—signifies how platform firms find users that satisfy their criteria; this helps to exclude the bad users already present on the platform. To analyze this framework, the present study analyzes data obtained from OCP users of Mercari and Airbnb by distributing 461 questionnaires (Mercari n=242, Airbnb n=219) through a research company. We find that: (1) controlling bottom users (limited participation) increases trust in C2C platforms, and (2) controlling top users (favorable treatment for high quality users) increases the transaction intention of users. This paper highlights the issue of users' quality in OCP by building a framework for managing it—something prior research neglected by focusing on network effects.
著者
鈴木 信貴
出版者
日本経営学会
雑誌
日本経営学会誌 (ISSN:18820271)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.48, pp.3-17, 2021 (Released:2022-12-16)
参考文献数
41

This study examines the management strategy of assembly manufacturer in the presence of highly competitive core module component manufacturer in modular industry. In recent years, modularization of products, division of labor in industrial structure and cost competition can be observed in various industries. Prior studies have argued that in such industries, assembly manufacturers seek to differentiate their products through the strategies: pursuing economies of scale, specializing in a niche, presenting a new concept or value to customers. However, if highly competitive core module component manufacturer is in such industries, the strategy and management of assembly manufacturers are severely constrained. Even if other component manufacturers exist, many assembly manufacturers are forced to procure components from a specific component manufacturer for the performance and function of their end products. Since core module component has a significant impact on the final products, assembly manufacturers are no longer able to differentiate their products. This study proposes coordination strategy among core module components as one of the possible management options for assembler. The coordination strategy is one in which assembler reduces its dependence on a specific component manufacturer by adjusting the differences in performance and function among core module components. In order to verify the validity of this strategy, this paper selects Mori Seiki, a machine tool manufacturer, as a case study and analyzes the approach for NC (Numerical Control). Mori Seiki tried to change its business relationship with Fanuc, the largest NC manufacturer, by increasing the number of suppliers of NC from the 1970s to the 1990s. But these efforts were not successful. In the 2000s, Mori Seiki changed the relationship with Fanuc by adjusting the differences between NCs through the development of MAPPS. From the case study, this study shows that when core module component manufacture is highly competitive in modular industry, it is difficult for the assembler to implement the strategies discussed by previous studies and the coordination strategy can be effective.