“Development of LCD industry in Eastern Asia-High speed catch up of Korean and Taiwanese companies and reaction of Japanese companies-“ (Keisou Press, 2014)

Jun Akabane (Yokohama City University, Associate Professor of International College of Arts and Sciences and Graduate School of International Management )

I am highly honored with an exceedingly great pleasure to have received the 31st Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize for my first book. I would like to express my warmest thanks to the members of the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Foundation and its Management and Selection Committees, as well as to my friends and colleagues and my family, who have extended full support to me in every aspects of my study.
My work depicts how Korean and Taiwanese enterprises have strived to catch up Japanese manufacturers during the past 10 years in the liquid crystal panel industry and how the Japanese counterparts have responded to their advances. Japanese electronic and electric manufacturers, who boasted of overwhelming competitiveness during the 1980s, later met enormous technical challenges from companies in eastern Asia, who have brought a wide range of products and components to the global market. The liquid crystal panel industry, addressed in by book, is one of those involved in the cut-throat competition.
Compared to other studies and researches on the Asian industry, most of which concentrated on specific countries and regions, my study is characterized by a cross-border focus on Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese manufacturers of liquid crystal panels. Specifically, the book attempted to clarify differences and similarities between Korean and Taiwanese enterprises in their approach toward overcoming Japanese counterparts, in addition to factors that permitted them to beat Japan. I believe that I was able to differentiate and clarify some characteristics of businesses in the three countries. Korean firms were highly tactful in marketing, while Taiwanese businesses concentrated their strategies on catching up their predecessors. On the other hand, Japanese manufacturers concerned themselves with a vertically integrated production system.
Although there still are a number of issues to be clarified, I hope that the analysis and views presented in my work will give useful hints on the behavior of businesses in the modern borderless markets.
　 The past recipients of the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize include a number of people I have highly respected. In this regard, it is a great privilege for me to be included in the list of recipients of this prize. With this, I am now got ready for strengthened efforts in my study.

Profile
Year of birth: 1984
Bachelor of Economics, The university of Tokyo, 1993
Master of Economics, The university of Tokyo, 1995
Ph.D. of Economics, The university of Tokyo, 2010
Mitsubishi Research Institute Inc., Senior Consultant, Project Leader, 1995 to 2012. Yokohama City University, Associate Professor of International College of Arts and Sciences and Graduate School of International Management, 2012 to present. Main academic papers; “Hyundai Motor’s Global Market Strategy”, The Journal of Korean Economic Studies, Vol.11 pp.1-17 December, 2012, “Development mechanism of Taiwanese TFT-LCD industry”, Sato Yukihito eds Enterprise and Industry of Taiwan, Institute of Developing Economies, pp.67-98, December 2008, etc.