CAD software business in Japan, Korea, Taiwan

Disclaimer: This section was created in 2000 and has only been slightly updated in 2006.

Surveying the Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean Internet; albeit just the CAD software and e-manufacturing areas; was a challenging task because Asia is a geographically large area with many diverse cultures and languages. To simplify the process and reduce risk of overrun, mapping activities were executed at two levels:

• High-level "lay of the land" English language mapping to establish the present level of e-manufacturing activity in each region
• Low-level English and local language mapping of each region based upon its short - medium term priority to identify contacts.

a. Stage 1: High-Level Mapping

High-level mapping focused on establishing the general infrastructure and possibilities within each region. The most reliable data is usually available from:

• National government and agency Web sites
• White papers
• Policy documents
• National news/information Web sites,
• Manufacturing industry association Web sites
• National telecom Web sites
• Investment strategy documents
• Policy documents
• Academic and research institute Web sites
• High-level searching for CAD CAM and e-manufacturing related:
• Link directory Web sites
• Newsgroups
• Mailing lists
• Competitive Web sites (i.e. eCADNow clones)

At the conclusion of this stage we had a reasonable impression of the relative potential and therefore priority, of each of the Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean markets. Finding the high-level mapping activities required 2 days each for Taiwan and Korea and 3 days for Japan.

b. Stage 2: Low-Level Mapping

Low-level mapping focused on identifying influential organizations and individuals within each of the six classes of user we needed to contact. This stage was achieved by:

• Traditional search engine and meta-site searching for:
• 3D CAD CAM software related Web sites
• ASP related Web sites
• Manufacturing service related Web sites
• Manufacturer's Web sites
• Low-level searching and offline browsing of:
• Manufacturing industry association Web sites
• 3D CAD CAM software and manufacturing link directory Web sites
• 3D CAD CAM software and manufacturing newsgroups
• 3D CAD CAM software and manufacturing mailing lists
• Regional company directory sites
• Specialist search engines

Additionally it was possible to achieve initial contact with certain users in Japan, Taiwan and Korea by participation in:

• Discussion groups (e-communities as they were known in 2000).
• Chat rooms.
• Newsgroup subscription.
• Mail list subscription.
• Online newsletter subscription.

At the conclusion of this stage we had identified, classified and prioritized the key organizations and individuals in the Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean 3D CAD software and e-manufacturing markets and were in a position to make initial contact with them. The low-level mapping activities required 5 days per region.

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