Previous research has discussed the factors behind entry behavior without considering entry from predecessor markets, so it is unclear how trends in predecessor markets are related to the business analysis of companies in predecessor markets. To address this issue, this study examines the entry behavior of PDA companies in the Japanese smartphone market as a case study, focusing on business analysis and supporting evidence. As a result, when companies forecasted sales, they took into account the progress of technological development in the predecessor market, assessed the compatibility between the predecessor’s products and the concept of the new product, and determined whether past sales could be used as evidence for forecasting sales. Furthermore, when forecasting costs, they considered the progress of technological development in the predecessor market to evaluate the compatibility between the predecessor market’s complementary technologies and the core technologies of the new product, and assessed the costs of converting those complementary technologies into core technologies.

Since many Japanese students in the management field enroll in domestic doctoral programmes, little is known about those programmes overseas. In this paper, I introduce how those programmes are structured based on my experience as a doctoral student at Imperial Business School in the United Kingdom. The paper particularly focuses on matters that differ significantly from those in Japanese doctoral programmes, such as education, student life, and the application process.