Case Name :      Pioneer Corporation: The NEC Plasma Opportunity (A)

Authors :           Derek Lehmberg

Source :             Ivey Publishing

Case ID :            W11514

Discipline :        General Management

Case Length :    14 pages

Solution Sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

In the A case set in 2004, Kaneo Itoh, president of consumer electronics firm, Pioneer Corporation, was considering acquiring the plasma display operations of another Japanese firm, NEC. Pioneer had decided some years ago that plasma display panel (PDP) technology was a strategic area for it to invest in. Recently, Pioneer had been selling increasing numbers of plasma TV sets using PDPs. While the company was building a new PDP production facility that would soon become operational if demand continued to increase, additional capacity would become necessary. Buying NEC’s plasma operations would give Pioneer this capacity, the potential for realizing scale economies and some valuable intellectual property NEC had developed.