Tisha Mae B.

Ochavillo
MA31 – BSMA

Targeting innovation and implications for capability development

Innovation is a process that is crucial to the continuing success of any

organization. Innovation is often described in terms of changes in what a firm offers the
world (product/service innovation) and the ways it creates and delivers those offerings
(process innovation). This is the only way to convert change into opportunities. This,
however, requires that innovation itself be organized as a “systematic activity”. It follows
that enterprises that are better able to manage innovation than others and demonstrate
a record of successfully exploiting new ideas can be said to possess, at least for a
period of time, a superior ’innovation capability’. Developing such capability is an
important strategic issue since innovation plays a key role in survival and growth.
Innovation relates to the situation in which a reframing of the current product/service,
process and market context results in seeing new challenges and opportunities.

The well-known case of a Japanese company, Komatsu Ltd. Japanese

multinational corporation that manufactures construction, mining, forestry and military
equipment, as well as diesel engines and industrial equipment like press machines,
lasers and thermoelectric generators. Its headquarters are in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Problems faced by Komatsu was lack of a strong distribution, sales, service network
and it has also poor operations and poor quality of its machines. The best overall
Komatsu Ltd., helps us to understand the importance of targeting the exploitation of
innovation capability. Komatsu made dumper trucks for the local market. The chairman,
Ryoichi Kawai, decided that Komatsu would strive from being a number one in the EME
(Earth Moving Equipment) sector. But then the executives at Komatsu did not know how
they would achieve their strategic intent, but it provided an overriding direction that
guided initiatives in quality management, product design, marketing and so on. Komatsu
grew stronger. Ryoichi Kawai took the company through four distinct stages on its path
to become the number one EME globally. The four stages were: (1) improve quality (2)
reduce costs (3) develop innovative products (4) devise new methods of sales and
financing.

When Komatsu sought to improve quality, reduce costs, develop innovative

products and devise new methods of sales and financing they did more than develop
new or improved products. They improved processes, change their marketing and build
up their company in a new way as a global not only in Japanese firm.