Canon: Approach to Innovation

This is in contrast to Samsung in my previous posting, from the Financial Times regarding Canon:

"Technology has become too complex for Canon to develop everything in-house and it is expected to make more acquisitions... the company’s chief financial officer said in an interview with the Financial Times.

“We can no longer cover everything with our own technology so we need alliances and tie-ups,” said Toshizo Tanaka.

His comments highlight how the traditional model for Japanese electronics companies of relying solely on internal research and development has broken down.

Canon is likely to make acquisitions rather than license technology, however, in order to differentiate its products.

“If [technology] is not closed then others can make similar devices,” Mr Tanaka said."

This is still a traditional model.  Opportunities remain in the areas of customer/consumer driven innovation, driving supplier/partners to invest in R&D and/or introduce new invention into existing products, academic research tie-ups, etc.

Shin-kansen: Japanese High-Speed Trains!

"The oldest and busiest Shinkansen corridor - Central Japan Railway's 550km Tokaido line, which connects Tokyo with the western city of Osaka - carries 400,000 passengers a day and has run since 1964 without a fatal accident. The average delay last year was 36 seconds, with most of that caused by typhoons."

The Financial Times talks about the Japanese Shin-kansen in "Tokyo bites hte bullet on Shinkansen" here becoming available to the world after close to five decades in use.  Great competition for the likes of Chinese and German train manufacturers.

Japan - International Growth Through Purchases / Acquisitions

"Thanks to conservative managers and years of record profits, Japanese public companies are sitting on cash reserves of more than ¥60 trillion, estimates Nikkei, a financial-news company."

States the article in the Economist "The Japanese are coming (again)" here. The figure below gives a visual insight on how Japanese companies have done this at the end of the last two decades also:

Another good article on the subject here from the International Herald Tribune. An excerpt:

"But aggressive expansion also presents challenges, especially cultural ones. Traditionally, Japanese firms emphasize seniority and stability over individual incentive and profits."

Aren't individual incentives and profits couple of the key ingredients to breakthrough innovation?