I was delighted to have an opportunity to directly interview Mr. Tsuji in this project, for I had always been wondering one question with Sharpe’s strategy. Sharp is often quoted as a successful example in management textbooks. They concentrated their managerial resources on liquid crystal in Optoelectronics at an early stage and dominated the subsequently boomed LCD market. However, no book illustrates as to ‘Why’ Sharp decided to allocate such a great corporate resources at that stage. Therefore, this was a golden opportunity for me to have a feel for what had actually been going on; since Mr. Tsuji was the very person to have made that decision.

The answer is provided in the case study for your ready perusal. The commitment to the Liquid Crystal was the result of a complex decision making processes. In other words, it cannot be explained in a simple story. Faced with repeated questions such as ‘Why did Sharp choose liquid crystal?’, Mr. Tsuji finds a simple and intuitive way to answer the question. ‘It is because liquid crystal has long been used for our electronic calculator.’ I was unable to be satisfied with this answer. In the hope of making the case study a useful one, I was persistent in asking many questions. I explained how useful it would be for the future students in Kwansei Gakuin Business School. As a graduate of Kwansei Gakuin University, Mr. Tsuji revealed many secretes in the case study, which would never have been publicly disclosed otherwise. I am very pleased with the results and very grateful to his cooperation.