Developing dynamic capabilities in robot industry : case of Japan and South Korea

Abstract

The emergence of the new paradigm threats the organizations which already have established innovation capability. Those who do not possess the appropriate innovation capabilities to cope with environmental changes may confront a difficulty in further growth and development. According to the ``resource-based view``, an organization which already has the unique resources can maintain its competitive advantage. However, the nature of changes is very fast and diverse, so organizations must be adaptable to cope with the changing external environment. It is called dynamic capability and enables quick adaptation to a rapidly changing environment by combining the organization``s internal and external capabilities. Until now, the concept of dynamic capabilities is focused on the firm as an organization. However, not only firms are experiencing rapid changes, but also all nations are facing the dynamic changes as well. Hence, a nation also needs the dynamic capability which coordinates and combines internal and external national capabilities in response to the new environment. Here, we apply the theory ``The dynamic capabilities of firms`` at a national level. We analyze different positioning of the robot industry in two nations; Japan and South Korea based on the dynamic capability perspective. Following that, we examine the different responses of each nation towards emergence of the new paradigm. We assume that the different responses are based on each nation``s unique resource utilization capabilities and specified knowledge learning processes. Japan has built the newly emerging intelligent service robot industry by leveraging on the higher position in the existing industrial robot industry. On the other hand, South Korea has a relatively short history in industrial robot and it positioned lower than Japan. However, since South Korea does not possess too much power in preexisting industrial robot industry, it considers the emergence of new paradigm in the robo...