New approach for analyzing industrial dynamics and its application to the tire industry

For a company to survive in a business environment that is changing rapidly, it must recognize in advance and adapt to the changes in its own industry circumstances. This study shows the analytical process that should be considered in order to recognize at an early stage the change in business environment a company will face in the near future. This analytical approach provides a clue on how to identify the change in business environment, and is effective for formulating a future business strategy. The author formulated the hypothesis that an inter-industry boundary change is caused by the homogenization of properties of boundary spanners across two industries, and this boundary change affects the business activities of related industries, including their own companies. This hypothesis was described based on the concept of the social cognitive model. The author used the film industry as an example and explained the dramatic industrial change in the film industry was caused by the homogenization of properties of boundary spanners between the camera and personal computer industries. The author also identified the impact of the mobile phone industry, based on the boundary change between the mobile phone and personal computer industries.