Technological catching-up and isolation avoidance: the case of the mobile communications industry in Korea and Japan

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of new path creation and the survival of the path in technological catching-up. While catching-up literature suggests that a latecomer country may catch-up the advanced ones by creating a new technological path, this paper argues that path-creation must be complemented by Intra-Path Integration and Inter-Path Reconfiguration. In order to confirm this argument, this paper has analysed the cases of Japanese and Korean mobile communications industries. Both countries created new technological paths, but the adoption and the further growth of the Japanese technological path was limited while the Korean path successfully expanded its market performance through the use of Intra-Path Integration and Inter-Path Reconfiguration. These case studies support the argument that Path-Creation alone cannot be a reliable strategy for a latecomer country and must be complemented by two other stages and capabilities, Intra-Path Integration and Inter-Path Reconfiguration.