Innovation from Japan — Invention and development of the CD-R

Abstract

The CD-R is a major innovation from Japan. To date, it has generated various information-based appliance products including the games using the CD-ROM, DVD recorders, and so on. This paper is a review of the innovation process leading to the development of the CD-R and the DVD-R as a next generation product. An investigation of the development process shows that some common trends in innovation process that can be described by the well-known concepts of the chain-linked model, modularity, and the interpretive process of innovation are also observed in the process of CD-R development.