Display Technologies Incorporated (DTI): What Went Wrong?

Abstract

This case exemplifies the fact that how despite tremendous technological innovation, an organization faces extinction due to market innovation by its owners. This case serves a point of refute to the traditional management thinking that positively links technological innovation to unremitting competitive advantage. The success of DTI to meet their customer's (IBM and Toshiba, who were also it's owners) requirement and overcome the manufacturing bottlenecks is an example of managing radical technological innovation. It was Toru Shima's (President, DTI) vision of mixing the right strategies due to which they not only met the requirement of 100,000 units per month but also overcome the hurdles imposed by the complex technological and manufacturing process. As a result the production not only doubled but also tripled. But due to the increased competition and slumping that led to increased pressure on the manufactures of LCDs, led IBM and Toshiba seek for different market focus. While Toshiba saw opportunity in mid-to small scale sized LCDs display for cell phones and hand held devices, IBM focussed on larger, high resolution LCDs for computer monitors. This ended their common vision, which led to the formation of DTI. Thus, traditionally it could be said that the fate of DTI was inevitable and should not be discussed along with the lines of organizational failure or death/extinction. Yet such school of thought may not entirely impede a debate whether such a fate could have been reversed. Death of a firm is an inevitable alternative to self-renewal. A successful firm should always adapt itself or even change the ecosystem to its favor in which it belongs, it were to survive beyond a Strategic Infection Point (SIP). The market innovation of IBM and Toshiba had triggered a Strategic Inflection Point (SIP) that DTI should have realized and acted accordingly.