Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 132). / In this study, I identify and discuss innovation strategies for the Japanese banking industry, with special focus on the R&D process through which banks are seeking to create new e-business opportunities. Traditionally, it was thought to be difficult to undertake well-organized R&D activities in a service industry because the intangible nature of banking services made it difficult to conduct R&D in a typical laboratory setting. Therefore, many service firms did not organize formal R&D activities. Furthermore, Japanese banks faced environmental obstacles to innovation, including government regulations, non-performing loans, and legacy assets that were difficult to abandon, such as the backbone banking system supported by major mainframe architecture. Today, emerging Internet technologies are at last triggering R&D activities among Japanese banks, and they are achieving some success in this field. This thesis identifies empirical R&D methods that have become more commonly used by Japanese banks, as well as the problems encountered in the effort to generate creative and effective ideas, screen them, perform trial-and-error iterations, and manage tests on real-life situations to gain customer input. I identify four factors that can help banks achieve innovation: managing institutional matters, managing legacy assets, acquiring a better understanding of customer needs, and organizing reality tests early to obtain feedback and make appropriate responses. The thesis begins by introducing some formal, empirical R&D methods. Next, I describe the business and technology environment of the Japanese banking industry, and depict the difficult situations that hamper innovation in the industry. Then, I review various organizational issues facing / (cont.) R&D in banking, followed by an analysis of the actual R&D processes taken in actual cases undertaken by the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. / by Yasushi Iguchi. / S.M.M.O.T.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MIT/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/17872 |
Date | January 2004 |
Creators | Iguchi, Yasushi, 1969- |
Contributors | Michael A. Cusumano., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Management of Technology Program., Management of Technology Program., Sloan School of Management |
Publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Source Sets | M.I.T. Theses and Dissertation |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Thesis |
Format | 132 leaves, 7359444 bytes, 7373533 bytes, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
Rights | M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission., http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 |
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