Dynamic catch-up strategy, capability expansion and changing windows of opportunity in the memory industry

• Published in: Research policy 2017-03, Vol.46 (2), p.404-416
• Main Author: Shin, Jang-Sup
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Capability expansion; Catch-up; Firm strategy; Industrial leadership changes; Japan; Korea; The memory industry; Unbalanced growth; Windows of opportunity
• ISSN: 0048-7333; 1873-7625
• DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2016.09.009

•Different catch up cycles in the memory industry.•Two-times change of market leadership, from the US to Japan in the early 1980s and from Japan to Korea in the 1990s, and no leadership change since then.•“Dynamic catch-up strategy” imperative in the memory industry.•Explaining why the strategy worked for Japan and Korea and it later became more difficult to implement successfully. The memory industry has twice experienced a change of market leadership, from the US to Japan in the early 1980s and from Japan to Korea in the 1990s. More than two decades have now passed, however, without further leadership change. This paper examines the reasons for this and discusses its implications for catch-up strategies and changing windows of opportunity for latecomers. It identifies the catch-up strategy that is imperative in the memory industry as a “dynamic catch-up strategy” and investigates how it worked for Japan and Korea until the middle of the 1990s. It then explores why the strategy later became more difficult to implement successfully.