Abstract :
Nowadays many Japanese companies are becoming "global niche top companies" with unique products or technologies originating, in many cases, in traditional or commonly-used technologies. These companies contribute, as parts or materials, to high-tech or high quality final products in the global market. A "global niche top company" is defined as a company holding the leading position in a specific niche market at the global level. Analyzing these companies from the viewpoint of innovation creation, and extracting common factors, is very meaningful for companies aiming for the global niche top position. In this paper, three companies are analyzed from the innovation viewpoint through the case study method, including interviews with top management, and then the common factors are extracted. The "two-step innovation process" is observed as the common factor among these three companies. The two-step innovation process is composed of, first, a small innovation and then, second, a major innovation. The first small innovation is created through combining the accumulated skills of traditional technologies or commonly-used technologies with modern technologies. Following that, the major innovation occurs as a result of the further skills which have been accumulated through the usage of the first innovation.
