Japan vs the U.S.: A neural network-based comparison of company strategies to drive innovation

抄録

This study compares the strategies to drive innovation used by Japanese and U.S. companies. Using a neural network for the analysis of company documents, we first choose keywords such as “innovation” and “strategy.” Among Japanese companies, “co-creation” is used in conjunction with “innovation” and “sustainable” with “strategy.” Among U.S. companies, we find similarities between “integration” and “innovation” as well as “concentration” and “strategy.” Sentence analysis reveals that Japanese companies are pushing forward with the provision of optimal solutions and the development of advanced technologies. These companies show a “willingness to invest in technology, R&D, capital expenditures, and in cost reduction efforts,” as well as an interest in “partnerships, alliances, and mergers and acquisitions.” Both improvements to technology and co-creation are declared to be priorities. A similar analysis of U.S. companies shows a need to “provide business by integrating hardware, software, online services, digital content, and applications with other business units” and “providing integrated services.” Further, these companies show high concerns for the concentration of suppliers, customers, and R&D-supporting facilities in certain parts of the country, such as in the case of Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, which integrate services and data to improve added value. We also find that U.S. companies highly prioritize risk management.