Video: How YKK became a global leader in zipper manufacturing

To investigate how a small component can help a business grow into a global fastener empire, WSJ travels to Japan. The journey focuses on YKK, a Japanese company that manufactures and sells billions of zippers each year, making their fasteners ubiquitous on everything from everyday jeans and jackets to NASA spacesuits.

While YKK successfully built its dominant market position through obsessive control over manufacturing, product quality, and globalization, its continuous worldwide expansion now draws legal scrutiny and forces the company to face the challenge of finding what's next.