1.

Company started business in 1907- Largest glass manufacturer in

Japan. Prominent member of Mitsubishi group
2. 1992 It became MNC
3. Critical juncture in 1993- Affected by Japans recession. company faced a
number of vital issues
a. Its original domestic glass business has matured
b. Rapid globalization of its activities in EU and North America
challenged its management practices
c. Company’s diversification into electronics related business had not
met expectations
4. 1909-1920 – successful glass sheet manufacturer – Monopoly
5. 1920-Sumitomo group succeeded in mass production of glass from
licensing technology from America
6. Asahi still established a dominant position in the domestic market
7. During world war-I Asahi glass began making soda ash and refractory
bricks in house.
8. Company started selling soda ash and refractory bricks to high heat
furnace users – Steel & cement producers and Chemical companies
9. Exploit scope economies in raw material usage Asahi began using raw
salt to produce caustic soda (an alkali) in addition to soda ash (exhibit 3).
10. Majority of revenue still come from Glass, Asahi developed technological
expertise in ceramics and alkali chemicals
11. In 1950-1960 after world war-II economy recovered and grew rapidly and
demand for glass and other construction materials exploded
12. Major strategic problem during this period was ensuring the factories
can produce sufficient volume of high-quality output to meet demand
13. 1958- Rapid growth attracted a new entrant supported by Mitsui group
14. TRIOPOLY in domestic flat glass market – Asahi – Sumitomo - Mitsui
(Asahi being leader of the market)
15. 1950- Pilkington Brothers – UK invented float glass process. Because of
its technological superiority, all the major glass manufacturers in the
world including Asahi, licensed the float process from Pilkington to
preserve their market positions
16. 1954 – By Licensing technology from Corning Glass works Asahi started
the production of TV Glass bulbs
17. 1956- Asahi entered Fabricated Automobile (safety) glass drawing its own
technological expertise
18. 1960- Asahi established leading Domestic position in TV Glass Bulbs
and Fabricated Automobile (safety) glass markets
19. 1956- started Joint Venture with Owens Fiber Glass Corp., to start
production of glass fiber in Japan
20. 1964- Joint Venture with Corning Glass Works with equity participation-
Iwaki Glass in return for Corning’s technology for – Borosilicate Glass
business for manufacturing
a. Automobile Headlight Glass
b. Laboratory Ware
c. Heat Resistant
d. Glass Houseware
21. 1962 – Asahi glass began producing and marketing ALC (Autocraved
light weight cement) in Japan by licensing technology from Swedish firm
22. 1973 – Asahi started the production of GRC (Glass reinforced cement)
with technology licensed from Pilkington
23. Asahi Glass Chemical business – After WWII- 2 products -2 Markets
a. ALC (Autocraved light weight cement)
b. GRC (Glass reinforced cement)
24. 1950- When Petrochemical Industry emerged in Japan- Asahi focused on
Alkalis and halogen elements
a. Fluorine
b. Chlorine
c. Bromine
d. Iodine
As well as their petrochemical additives

25. 1961- Asahi glass started production of Propylene oxide and propylene
glycol by combining Chlorine with basic petrochemicals
26. 1966- Joint Venture with PPG industries to produce
a. Vinyl chloride monomers
b. Chlorinated solvents
Also started producing –
Chloromethane – which was then used to move into the production of
a. Higher value-added Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s)
27. Having developed new applications and new markets for its products,
Asahi Glass became leader in number of specialty product markets, and
secured a unique position in the domestic chemical industry
28. Throughout this period Asahi Glass set growth as its primary objective.
Top management allowed the divisions to explore new product and
geographic market opportunities on the basis of their technological
expertise, without obligation to adhere to a given strategic direction.
29. 1970-
a. Asahi glass & construction materials busi.- 50% of Total revenue
b. Chemical Business – 40% of Total Revenue
30. 1970- Two oil crises, however cast the shadow on future of company.
As the Japanese economy shifted into more modest expansion phase, growth
of its basic material businesses slowed (Exhibit 5).
31. 1970- Takeo Sakabe -4th Pillar – Began building Electronics business –
Following Glass, Chemicals, Ceramics
a. Glass
b. Chemicals
c. Ceramics
d. Electronics
32. Company’s first foray into electronics business had been in 1960’s
when its formed a relationship with Corning Glass Works to import and
market Integrated Circuits (IC).
Asahi glass continued to distribute IC’s finding new suppliers such as
National Semiconductor and Oki Electric.
Asahi glass’s other involvement with electronics was through its
development of glass delay lines –
a. Electronic elements that improved TV picture quality
b. Started research on TV Glass delay lines and successfully
developed its own technology in 1974

33. Top management set a goal of developing electronics to generate 10% of

companies revenue within 10 years. They decided to focus such as-
a. Displays
b. Optoelectronics
c. Components of IC
Among these areas management particularly emphasized the
development of Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD’s) partly as a hedge against
the substitution of LCD’s for the TV Glass bulbs business.
1970 company research group began exploring LCD technology and then
participated in cooperative research project sponsored by MITI.

34. 1976 – Empowered by Top managements strategic decision, research was

scaled up and led to the formulation of Joint Venture called
OPTREX – Asahi Glass hold 60% and Mitsubishi holds 40%
To commercialized small sized LCD’s used as the displays in products-
a. Electronic calculators
b. Digital wrist watches
c. Automotive panels
OPTREX soon became Japans second largest manufacturer of LCD’s primary
supplying Automobile manufacturers
35. 1982 – Electronics Business Division established as an Independent
division
36. 1989 – Upgraded as a general division
37. 1984 – 2 Acquisitions
a. Nippon Carbide Industries – Ceramic Processing Technology
b. ELNA Co.,- Circuit board and Aluminum Capacitor Technology

These 2 Acquisitions were important for understanding Electronics

production.

38. 1985 – established Electronics Product Development Center at its

Central Laboratory – Hiring 50 Electrical Engineers from outside
39. 1987- Joint venture with Komang inc., California. Komang-Asahi
produced and marketed sputtered thin film magnetic memory (hard disk)
in Japan
40. 1981- New Business Division to develop Optical Lens Business. Asahi
glass being OEM of supplier of Glass lenses, it decided to become a full
line provider of
a. Optical frames
b. Glass
c. Plastic Lenses
41. While seeking growth by entering these new businesses, Asahi also
attempted to strengthen its three traditional businesses by shifting
commodity products to specialty, value added products.

In order to strengthen its position of Supplier of Materials-Expanded to

Downstream Moves-
a. Processing
b. Assembling
42. Asahi further developed new products in its Glass business and
Chemical Business
a. Glass Business –
i. Heat reflective glass
ii. High insulating double-glazing glass
b. Chemical Business-
i. Foam Urethane products – For Automobile bumpers & Seats
ii. Fluorinated etching gases – Used in Semiconductor
Fabrication
iii. Fluoropolymer resins – For Weather resistant’s external
paints
43. 1975- Asahi Glass maintained its lead Domestic Alkali Chemical
business by developing ion-exchange membrane production process for
caustic soda.
Later company applied the ion-exchange membrane technology to
develop a Hollow Fiber Membrane for
a. Dehumidifiers
b. Hydrogen Fuel Cells
44. 1956- Foreign Direct Investment –
a. 1956- Indian Govt., to build local sheet glass to supply primarily
Indian market
b. 1964- Flat glass Joint Venture with local partners in Thailand
c. 1972- Flat glass Joint Venture with local partners in Indonesia
Both these ventures focused on South Asian Markets