Global Competition by Metanational Management in Liquid Crystal Display Industry

Japan created liquid crystal display (LCD) industry and has grown up it. South Korea and Taiwan entered into it and are passing over Japan. Recently, the driving product of LCD industry has changed to LCD-TV. Although Sony had the 1st place in the world TV market, it did not have its flat display. Therefore, Sony established a joint venture with Samsung. Then, Sony could keep high share in the TV market. On the other hand, Sharp Corporation make LCD panel and assemble into LCD-TV by vertical integration in one factory. Sharp has 40% share in Japan, but about 15% in the world market. Thus, Sharp has changed the global strategy. Sharp produces LCD panels in Japan. They are assembled into TVs in Japan for Japanese market. Also, they are shipped and assembled in overseas factories for global market. Sony and Sharp have top class share of the world LCD-TV market. However, their global strategies are different. Yves L. Doz etc. proposed "metanational management" concept which combined and leveraged the globally dispersed knowledge. Sony took the "metanational management". However, Sharp took the other strategy based on the "core knowledge" in Japan. Therefore, the author would like to propose "core national management."