The Role of Key Person and the Reform of Laboratory in Connecting R&D with Commercialization Concerning the Case of Tokuyama Corporation

When the low growth starts since the first oil crises, the importance of the research and development section will be reestimated for a lot of chemical corporations in Japan. A new business isn't achieved easily if there is no cooperation with the research and development. To connect directly the research with the product development, the research and development section was put on the business section. As a result, the disorganization of Central Research Institute comes to be measured, And the ratio of the corporate research has decreased, too. Here is analyzed the history of the research and development of Tokuyama corp. The polysilicon business making of Tokuyama is the project of the planning initiative type. The existence of the leader who can adopt the best investment is important; Yuuji Fujii of director in the planning division succeeded polysilicon business. He was both an engineer and a manager, and his standpoint worked effectively, This business has grown up as the center business of this company, and the second place in the world that follows the Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation in the polysilicon business for the semiconductor. In the environment surrounding chemical corporations in Japan, the laboratory reform is strongly requested, too. In the new Fujisawa laboratory of Tokuyama corp., a past linear model was stopped, and the reform Simultaneously moving two or more functions for new market creation was done. Takashi Yoshioka of a new head declared the five "Management ideas in the laboratory". lie didn't adopt the bottom-Up type but the top down type, where the cooperation of the R&D section and the business section was done from the beginning.