Strategic community management in a large business: Case study of strategic alliances between Japanese and American companies in multimedia business field Available to Purchase

For the last few years, the videoconferencing system market represented by multimedia technology has enjoyed strong growth in Japan. Behind the recent upturn in this market was the strategic alliance of NTT, Japan’s largest telecommunications carrier, and PictureTel of the USA, followed by the birth of business communities centered around or outside NTT, thus intensively creating and boosting a new market referred to as video communication. This article reviews the challenges that faced NTT, one of the big businesses in Japan, followed by PictureTel and other players within and outside NTT, all of which were lined up to create various strategic business communities. The article gives careful consideration to the measures taken by these players who achieved success in such a way as to alter employee consciousness, vitalize organizational morale, entrench the new NTT “Phoenix” brand (videoconferencing system) in the Japanese market and create an emergent video network market.