著者

平松 茂実

出版者

経営史学会

雑誌

経営史学 (ISSN:03869113)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.51, no.4, pp.28-50, 2017 (Released:2019-03-30)

---

Dr. Kikunae Ikeda discovered the “Umami” taste associated with glutamate. He thenwent on to apply for a patent for a method of manufacturing a seasoning based on the“Umami” taste associated with foods high in glutamate. Fortunately this patent has turnedout to have an uncommon high availability, making it possible for Ajinomoto Company toestablish and maintain a large new global enterprise.Up to this present day, many technically outstanding patents have failed to succeed inbecoming the base of new businesses, even though these inventions and their patentshave been recognized and appreciated as representing useful technical novelties.The purpose of this paper is to clarify the reasons that Dr. Ikeda’s patent achieved thisrare high availability over a long period. First, I examined the details and the nature of thediscovery of “Umami”, took a close look at the novelty, the technical uniqueness and thedeficits of his patent, and then, in the light of these considerations, investigated the reasonsfor this success, by applying the NASA’s 3 step model developed to analyze barriersto industry development. In 2003, NASA in U.S.A. released a plan development model.This model identifies three barriers that need to be overcome during the course of successfuldevelopment. These are 1st: “the Devil River” R & D barrier, 2nd: “the Valley ofDeath” barrier to getting a business started, and 3rd: “the Darwinian Sea” barrier to successfulcompetition in the market.It is found that even though Dr. Ikeda’s patent had some deficits related to “the DevilRiver” barrier step, which allowed developers in the U.S.A. to get a foothold in the monosodiumglutamate industry in U.S.A., it also contained strong elements to combat “the Valleyof Death” barrier, and so it was able to hold back the emergence of most competitors inthis industry for a long time.Even though it may be difficult to place such a strong defense against “The Valley ofDeath” barrier in many patents, this finding does surely provide some new suggestionsabout how to launch highly available inventions and patents in the future.