Research Center for Organic Electronics ＞ {Finished} The 33rd ROEL Lecture Session

Starting from 3:00pm on June 14 (Thu), 2012, the 33rd ROEL Lecture Session was held in the 100th Anniversary Hall, inviting Prof. Kazuhito Hashimoto in Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyoas as a lecturer.
The lecture, entitled “Constructing the Japanese-Styled Business Model by Combing Analog Materials and Analog Thinking” was intriguing to many of the researchers and students of Yamagata University, stimulating many questions from the audience.

Prof. Kazuhito Hashimoto in Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo

100th Anniversary Hall during the lecture

It seems that the business model of ‘vertical cooperation,’ that is the manufacturers of assembled products who possess the excellent ability of development and planning cooperate with the manufacturers who have the excellent technology, is heading toward the end in Japan.
Although Japanese manufacturers of assembled products are known to possess excellent technologies, the manufacturers in Korea, Taiwan, and even China, are equally competing with those in Japan regarding the performance of products, and Japanese manufactures are losing the competition because of the prices. A main reason of this is said that the technology has become digitalized, that is, a part of its product can be made easily by anybody, and the performance of the part can be maintained because of the digitalization. As the result, the manufacturers of assembled products in Japan start losing the international competitive power and the profits because the personnel expenses are high in Japan and the yen is strong in the market.
Since the business environment has been changed this way, it has been said that our domestic industries, especially chemical manufacturers, should focus on the business of functional materials, with additional values. It is true that ‘functional materials’ are analog materials (or products) supported by the “technology of fine-tuning,” that is something that Japan is very good at. And Japan’s international superiority can be greatly expected.

In this lecture, based on the concrete examples, the personal opinions will be addressed regarding the new business model, which cannot be followed easily by development teams that will be later formed, including the research development system to achieve the business model.

Time/Date	June 14 (Thu)
Location	100th Anniversary Hall
Lecturer	Prof. Kazuhito Hashimoto in Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo
Subject	“Constructing the Japanese-Styled Business Model by Combing Analog Materials and Analog Thinking”