Why Are Only Software from the Same Company Used? Learning About the "Antimonopoly Act" Through Business Case Studies "Antimonopoly Act and Corporations"

"Why is it difficult to switch to the software that is easier to use?"

In the specialized educational course "Antimonopoly Act and Corporations" in the Faculty of Business Administration, taught by Associate Professor Kenji Kawahara, students learned about the rules of competition in the digital society using case studies that often occur in business settings. This course teaches about the "Antimonopoly Act," which supports fair competition between companies, based on business case studies and domestic and international antimonopoly law cases. In this particular class, after reviewing familiar digital platform services that students use in various ways, they deepened their understanding of the relationship between package sales of software and the Antimonopoly Act through a case study of a software manufacturer, discussing from the perspectives of both the company and the user.

The "Wait" Voice Raised by the Sales Destination

The protagonist of the case handled this time is Toshiko Sakunami, a sales representative for software maker X. Company X proposes various business software solutions tailored to the challenges of its corporate clients, and Sakunami had gained a favorable impression from the IT procurement team at Company A, one of her sales destinations. However, Company A had already contracted for licenses of business software from Company Y, and as a result, Company A's executives put a halt to the contract with Company X. Since Company Y offers various software products in a package format, Company A's executives thought that the software proposed by Sakunami could be substituted with Y's products, making the adoption of X's software unnecessary. Company Y is a major software vendor, and not only Company A but many other companies use Y's products. We will consider the impact of Company Y's packaged software sales on other companies from the perspective of the Antimonopoly Act.

Why Does Only One Company's Product Dominate?

We considered the challenge faced by the protagonist of this case from the perspective of the client company. Students imagined the background behind Company A's reluctance to easily purchase Company X's products, clarifying customer considerations such as "companies have to purchase accounts for all employees, making them cautious" and "they want to continue using what's in the package even if it's slightly less user-friendly," which relate to account costs and the desire to use package products. Furthermore, Associate Professor Kawahara posed the question to the students about how such products relate to the Antimonopoly Act, leading them to the conclusion that it "involves the issue of tying."

Thinking About the Digital Society Through the Antimonopoly Act

Through this class, students commented, "I was able to deepen my understanding of parts of digital platforms that I didn't know much about, and it provided an opportunity to think about the future sales of digital platform products, so I gained a lot from this learning experience." They analyzed the issues from multiple perspectives, including those of companies, users, and competing companies, and considered the nature of competition in the digital society from a legal standpoint.