| Author Name | NOBEOKA Kentaro (Faculty Fellow) /UENO Masaki (Lecturer, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration - Kobe University) |
|---|---|
| Creation Date/NO. | March 2005 05-J-004 |
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Abstract
Chinese firms have rapidly become more competitive in the digital appliances industry. For example, they lead the world market in DVD players. Chinese manufacturers have also launched many new desktop PC and digital camera products. Since these are modular products, they can be developed simply by procuring components and assembling them. However, the international competitiveness of these products varies widely. No rapid increase in Chinese competitiveness has been seen in laptops or digital cameras, for instance. Even though these products are all modular, the capability to realize efficient combination of components is not, by itself, enough to make a firm competitive. The purpose of this paper is to reexamine product development capabilities in modular products and to present a theoretical framework regarding the true nature of product development capability in modular appliances, focusing on the competitiveness of Chinese firms in digital appliances. It is often argued that the combination capability is sufficient to develop competitive modular products but the paper suggests that this argument only applies to a limited range of products.
