The Japanese aircraft industry changed its course in approximately 2007. Mitsubishi Heavy Industry （MHI） Co. launched a project in which regional jets （Mitsubishi Regional Jet （MILl）） reentered the airliner manu...The Japanese aircraft industry changed its course in approximately 2007. Mitsubishi Heavy Industry （MHI） Co. launched a project in which regional jets （Mitsubishi Regional Jet （MILl）） reentered the airliner manufacturing market. Honda announced plans to develop, manufacture, and sell small passenger jets, or Honda Jets, in the United States （US） market. This paper summarizes the historical development of the industry using aircraft production statistics and analyzes the patent portfolio strategy from 1995 to 2006, a period in which MHI and Honda accumulated patents for the upcoming market entry. The author uses the following two measurements to evaluate niche widths among aircraft manufacturing companies： the Morishita＇s index and the principal component analysis. The former index is used in population ecology to measure overlapping species. The latter measurement is presented to clarify the validity of the Morishita＇s index. The author identifies MHI as a market leader, Kawasaki Heavy Industry （KHI） Co. as a challenger, Fuji Heavy Industry （FHI） Co. as a follower, and Honda as a nicher in the aircraft patent portfolio strategy in Japan.展开更多
文摘The Japanese aircraft industry changed its course in approximately 2007. Mitsubishi Heavy Industry （MHI） Co. launched a project in which regional jets （Mitsubishi Regional Jet （MILl）） reentered the airliner manufacturing market. Honda announced plans to develop, manufacture, and sell small passenger jets, or Honda Jets, in the United States （US） market. This paper summarizes the historical development of the industry using aircraft production statistics and analyzes the patent portfolio strategy from 1995 to 2006, a period in which MHI and Honda accumulated patents for the upcoming market entry. The author uses the following two measurements to evaluate niche widths among aircraft manufacturing companies： the Morishita＇s index and the principal component analysis. The former index is used in population ecology to measure overlapping species. The latter measurement is presented to clarify the validity of the Morishita＇s index. The author identifies MHI as a market leader, Kawasaki Heavy Industry （KHI） Co. as a challenger, Fuji Heavy Industry （FHI） Co. as a follower, and Honda as a nicher in the aircraft patent portfolio strategy in Japan.
