| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,990,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥690,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Studies related to the "mirroring hypothesis" found that in order to gain competitiveness, component manufacturers must acquire technological knowledge of the overall product architecture. However, how single-component manufacturers can acquire a broad knowledge base that extends beyond their areas of business has not been clarified. We conduct a case analysis of the hard disk drive industry and investigate the R&D activities of the component-specialized manufacturing firms. We use patent data and focus on three levels of analysis: organization, group, and individual. The results of the analysis show that system-related architectural knowledge can be accumulated by a relatively small number of cross-sectoral engineers mediating different technological fields. Their characteristics are different from the “star” engineers and gatekeepers mentioned in the literature discussed.
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