A Conceptual Approach to Global Leadership: The Role of Resource, Innovation, and Global Platform

Can a latecomer transform and become a leader in the industry, particularly in global business? This paper examines how latecomers in the industry succeed in transforming from a catch-up in the industry to an innovator by establishing a certain set of characteristics and scale that allows them to become the new global leader. This study conceptualizes a firm’s global leadership is due to three main factors: (1) the degree of synergy (or the interrelationships) created among the firm’s resources, (2) the degree of innovation, and (3) the degree of control in coordinating the firm’s global value chain platform. After introducing the new conceptual framework based on earlier studies, an overview of the smartphone industry analysis is conducted by comparing four firms and their positions in the global market. As the latecomers in the industry, there are notable Asian firms that have succeeded in becoming the fast followers then gradually transformed as the new global leader in the industry. This paper analyzes successful transformation in the three constructs in order to derive strategic implications for latecomers.