Comparative analysis between Korean and Japanese firms in display industry: from TFT-LCD to OLED

Abstract

Korea successfully caught up with Japan in electronics industry during the 1990s and 200s. The display industry is one unique example of the shift in market leadership positions between Japan and Korea. To examine this case, I make a comparative study of Samsung, LG, Sharp, and Sony. I assume that major factors involved in the reversed market position are the entrepreneurial leadership, organizational culture, and technology strategy. In this thesis, I showed some differences of these factors between Korea’s and Japanese firms to explain how Korea’s firms surpass Japanese rivals. After showing the results, I conducted an empirical analysis to figure out how these factors influence firm’s performance in Korea’s electronics industry which contains display industry by using a path analysis. The results showed that entrepreneurial leadership and organizational culture have more positive effect on firm’s financial performance if they were mediated by technology strategy. This result gives some implications for managers of those high-tech industries that how they utilize its own resources to enhance their competitiveness and profitability.