Publication of Masamitsu Kitase's First Book 「Large Corporation Innovation」

An interview article with Kitase was published in 「Japan Innovation Review Author Interview」 ( Part 1・ Part 2）

Amazon Best Sellers Ranking: Japanese Books General: Entrepreneurship and Business Non-Fiction
1st place(As of December 6, 2023)

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There are challenges unique to large companies!
New business development that overcomes the changing times

The first book by NEC's new business development manager!
The author has developed and commercialized numerous new business models.
Explaining the key points for creating innovation in large companies!
Utilizing AI and various robots, and responding to advances in autonomous driving and a variety of other applications
All kinds of technologies, such as the development of drones, are continuing to develop around the world, particularly in the IT and manufacturing industries.
Past successful models will not last forever.
If we do not innovate, we will be eliminated in the great waves of the times.
However, in Japan, large companies that have been driving the IT and manufacturing industries
The author says innovation is stagnating.
The company's talented personnel are often kept as the aces of existing businesses,
Opportunities to play an active role in new business development are rare.
Even when an idea for a new business is born, it is necessary to submit it to a decision maker within the company for approval.
There's a multi-step process ahead.

Furthermore, the evaluation there is "How much sales will it generate?" and "Can it turn a profit in three years?"
The same timeframe and standards as existing businesses are applied, such as "Have all risks been eliminated?"
As a result, business ventures are being nipped in the bud.
They also place excessive emphasis on internal resources, saying, "We should not export our core technology or talented personnel."
There are also cases where opportunities for collaboration with external parties are lost.

NEC, where the author works, also faces these challenges, and although there are research seeds, commercialization is difficult.
It is said that it was one of the large companies that was said to be poor at it.
However, in 2013, when business performance deteriorated significantly, the company realized that it had no future if it continued like this.
The management team felt a strong sense of crisis and aimed to create new businesses and reform the conservative organizational culture.
We launched the Business Innovation Unit (BIU)
NEC has taken the first step towards revitalization in order to transform itself into an innovative company.

The author points out that new business divisions are difficult to evaluate based on the standards of existing businesses.
Recognizing that this was hindering development, a new performance evaluation system for new businesses was established.
Furthermore, when launching new businesses, we have overcome the speed issue that large companies face.
To solve this problem, we actively pursue carve-outs using external capital.
At the same time, we will boldly pursue open innovation that combines knowledge from both inside and outside the company.
As a result, we have established a company in the US that conducts AI data analysis,
We are collaborating with overseas companies to advance our AI drug discovery business and our expansion into the healthcare field.
We have been able to create one unprecedented business after another and achieve success.
Through these experiences, the author has learned that in order for large companies to succeed in innovation,
He said he became convinced that there were "four keys."
It is important to set a clear vision and goal from the beginning, and to gather personnel who can take on new business development.
Establishing a system for continuous development and a business evaluation system for new business development
The key is to establish a new standard and create a common language for each new business development process.
If these things can be done, innovation from large companies will be closer to success.

This book provides a detailed explanation of these four keys, including examples from NEC.
It can clarify the path to success when working on new business development in large companies,
It's a practical book.