DoCoMo--Japan's Wireless Tsunami: How One Mobile Telecom Created a New Market and Became a Global Force

DoCoMo is the first dramatic success of the wireless age. Ahead of the West in technology, financials and market strength, DoCoMo is now bringing i-mode to Europe and North America. Will DoCoMo's mobile Internet (and the commerce it carries) dominate our business lives the way that Sony dominates our media rooms and Toyota our highways? DoCoMo's worldwide impact is compelling. But even greater drama is hidden inside. The real story is how DoCoMo created world-beating innovation inside a famously conservative parent, Nippon Telephone and Telegraph.
Both DoCoMo's success and its innovation come from a surprising source. Talented employees, extraordinary leaders, eager customers . . . all mattered. But behind all these was an almost magical conglomeration of six factors not found in traditional case studies: Love and Strength, Impatience and Inequality, Fun and even Luck. These factors - feelings, really - drive DoCoMo's success.

John Beck is Director of Research at Accenture's Institute for Strategic Change.

"John C. Beck (Phoenix, AZ) is Director of Accenture’s Institute for Strategic Change and the co-author ofThe Attention Economy

Mitchell Wade (Los Angeles, CA) is also at Accenture and is a frequent collaborator with John Beck."