The business model of non-ferrous metal mining in Japan, which operates only within the refinement process, was established by Kuhara Mining, a late-coming entry into the metal mining industry in 1905 (Meiji 38) . Kuhara Mining paid great attention to changes in the Meiji government's mining industry policy. One of those policy changes was an exemption from the refinement operation duty in addition to the main business, and another was the new tax credit system applied to mining adjunct refinement facilities. In addition, Kuhara Mining, even though a late-comer, introduced some technological innovations in the refinement process and was able to strategically connect the surplus refinement capacity occurring as a result of technological innovation with the conversion of the raw material procurement system.
In this paper, we investigated why only Kuhara Mining was able to implement a systematic introduction of the new technology while the incumbent companies could not by analyzing the internal resources of the related companies as well as the business environment at the time when Kuhara Mining entered the field of non-ferrous metal mining as a late comer.
As a result of this investigation, we learned the following: (1) in the process of the shift in manufacturing technology and the installation of pollution-deterrence technology, the timing of the introduction of new technology as well as the order of their introduction was important in bringing about a synergistic effect among the production processes, and (2) at the point of diffusing environmental pollution caused by the mining process, a mistake in response might have caused irreparable damage to those companies planning to use the new technology.
From the above points, we reached the conclusion that even in the metal mining industry, where the possession of superior mining assets and mining location are thought of as definitive sources of competitive advantage, they are not absolute factors, and that a late entry and expansion of business can be possible by means of the strategic introduction and implementation of new technology and the conversion of the raw material procurement system.
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