The Dismantling of the Japanese Model in Consumer Electronics The Case of the Digital Amplifier

This paper addresses an issue of great importance for the future organization of the consumer electronics industry: the "battle" of control over component-based digitization. We are now witnessing the dismantling of the Japanese Model that has prevailed in consumer electronics over the past 30 years. Specialized and large-scale component suppliers have taken the lead in most component-based innovations and have obtained increasingly powerful positions in the value chain of consumer electronics. This paper provides an in-depth study of the strategic and structural ramifications of one such component-based innovation, the current transformation of sound amplification from conventional to digital amplifiers. We study the early formation of this new technology as especially reflected in the particularly dynamic cluster of innovation in Denmark and extend the analysis to the global strategizing around this new technology. A framework is developed to explain the reluctance of most of the large consumer electronics giants in developing/adopting this new technology.