부품업체에 의한 시스템 제품의 아키텍처 혁신: 카메라폰 플랫폼 변경 사례

Leapfrogging competitors and catapult into a leading position through developing innovative technology and products are one of the key interests in strategic management. In a technologically complex industry involving many number of part and components, a firm's- a supplier frim in particular- destiny depends not on its own initiatives but on the relationship and interaction with others such as buyer, i.e., system makers. In this case, what can the component supplier do? In the relationship between system makers and component makers, which have their unique innovation fields, platform changes are generally system maker's innovation fields. However, in the case that the performance limit of system products can not be overcome by improved component efficiency alone, platform changes of system product is often triggered. This can be defined as "architectural innovation of system product by component maker." Architectural innovation, when viewed in a technical aspect, is at a one step lower level than radical or breakthrough innovation, but it is still known as an important innovation that has direct influence on the rise and fall of companies. This study contains a case study on Mtekvision, a Korean camera control processor developer, and CURITEL, a mobile phone maker, in order to explain Mtekvision's success in mobile phone platform change in the very context of architectural innovation. The ultimate goal of component makers that produce custom-made components is the diffusion of the derivative components through their spread. And the purpose of this study is to understand a whole process of architectural innovation of the system products by component makers by observing the longitudinal process up to technological accumulation and diffusion of custom-made components.