Innovation through networked strategic communities: case study on NTT DoCoMo

The purpose of this paper is to identify key factors for generating new knowledge creation in the fields of high tech requiring the integration of a variety of technologies and business models.Design/methodology/approach – The case study will center on NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile communications carrier, where the author has had extensive experience in service development. The author has collected rich data related to development processes and uses the grounded theory‐based approach to analyze seven concepts and the cause and effect relationships among them.Findings – In a short period of time, a strategic team at DoCoMo formed strategic communities (SCs) outside the company including customers, and then formed a network that transcended the SCs' boundaries.Orginality/value – The synthesizing capability of the leadership‐based SCs comprising community leaders inside the networked SCs enabled DoCoMo to build new business models aimed at customers and achieve successful new product and service development ahead of its competitors.