著者

Takeyasu ICHIKOHJI Sotaro KATSUMATA

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.0151214a, (Released:2016-03-11)

参考文献数

24

被引用文献数

1 6

---

Amateur creations are one source of Japan’s competitiveness in the content industry. This study summarizes prior research on amateur manga (comic), called doujinshi, in terms of its history and current status, overseas trends, gender aspects, and copyrights. This study then develops a research model with three hypotheses on the relationship between creation and monetization across multiple content categories. To test these hypotheses, an online survey of 2,593 individuals was conducted on the creation and monetization of manga and music. The survey’s findings were as follows: (1) Consumers who create works in one content category tend to do so in other categories. (2) Consumers who monetize their own work in one content category tend to do so in other categories. (3) Consumers who create works in multiple content categories tend to monetize their own works. This study also shows the current status of creation and monetization in Japanese manga and music.

著者

Hiroki KIKUCHI

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.0160605a, (Released:2016-08-09)

参考文献数

17

被引用文献数

2 5

---

The Tokaido Shinkansen began operating in 1964 and ran at globally unprecedented speeds of more than 200 kmph. Comparison with the operating speed of aircraft necessitated further improvement of the operating speed of Shinkansen. Nevertheless, there was no improvement until 20 years. During that period, the maximum speed of test cars, the highest technically feasible speed, improved. Rather than technical factors, the following social and organizational factors impeded the improvement of the operating speed. (1) The social factor was the prioritization of environmental countermeasures to improvements in speed because of the noise pollution lawsuits and noise regulation. (2) The organizational factor was the need to secure the slack time due to frequent strikes and delays when Shinkansen was managed by Japan National Railways (JNR). However, around the time of the splitting and privatization of JNR in 1987, noise regulation was relaxed and lawsuits were settled. Furthermore, the labor movement settled down with the privatization of JNR; consequently, labor unions were dismantled. These events resolved preventive factors and led to the improvement of operating speeds.

著者

Jing-Ming SHIU Masanori YASUMOTO

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.5, pp.239-250, 2016-10-15 (Released:2016-10-16)

参考文献数

26

被引用文献数

4 3

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The open source community (OSC) is a place to develop collective knowledge available to anyone, thereby inevitably engendering free riders. Despite this, many firms have contributed to OSCs. This study examines 10 Android smartphone manufacturers between 2010 and 2013 with regard to their (a) source code contributions and the relation of those contributions to (b) time to market as measured by the release of their first Android smartphones. The results of the analysis are divided into the following two groups: (A) a group that released smartphones faster than their competitors through source code contributions and (B) a group that made few source code contributions and was slower to release smartphones than group (A). In addition, in a few years, some firms were observed to have move from group (B) to group (A).

著者

Masamichi OGAMI

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.4, pp.187-197, 2016-08-15 (Released:2016-08-15)

参考文献数

12

被引用文献数

4

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This paper employs data on patent applications for the glass industry’s float process from 1954 through 2015. Furthermore, it assesses whether the S-curve of technological progress emerges. Assigning time to the horizontal axis, something like the S-curve emerges in the US and Europe but not in Japan. The S-curve represents the physical limits of technology. Specifically, Foster (1986) defined the S-curve as the function that expresses the relation between the amount of effort expended toward performance improvement and its outcome. The magnitude of the effort expended depends on the company as well as social factors. This paper performs company-level analysis using actual data to examine (1) the extent to which companies respond to the demands of the market and (2) the effect of the grant-back clauses in licensing agreements suggested by Ogami (2015).

著者

Sungwoo BYUN

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.0160531a, (Released:2016-07-20)

参考文献数

11

被引用文献数

1 7

---

Once a company begins its development process, putting products into the market as quickly as possible to get a return on investment is the fundamental corporate activity. A product’s time to market can be categorized into the development time for the product and production processes and production ramp-up time. Existing studies have focused on reducing development time by primarily increasing efficiency. However, no matter how much a company shortens its development time, there may be a delay in the return on investment if production ramp-up takes too much time. This paper analyzes the processes of Hyundai Steel, a major Korean steel manufacturer. Moreover, it examines the process of its implementation of blast furnace technology through mass production. The company used a strategy that maximized the learning effect by implementing three blast furnaces with the same specifications in succession and without delay. They planned to implement the blast furnaces with no overlap in the implementation schedule, which enabled the same ramp-up team to start up production successively. Thus, the team was able to leverage the experience gained in ramping up one blast furnace for ramp-ups of subsequent blast furnaces. This learning effect enabled them to successfully reduce the ramp-up time linearly, as shown on a semilog graph.

著者

Mizuki KOBAYASHI

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.2, pp.105-117, 2016-04-15 (Released:2016-04-15)

参考文献数

22

---

Dalian, China, has been noted for its software industrial agglomeration. Many studies have mentioned Silicon Valley, the archetypal high-tech industrial agglomeration, stating that companies gained the necessary resources by becoming familiar with the flexible business practices in the region. This is conventional wisdom. However, such a trend is barely found in Dalian. Much of the business of Dalian’s software industry is related to Japan, and a strong influence of Japanese multinational enterprises (MNEs) exists. Key enterprises within the industrial agglomeration adopt Japanese companies’ managerial system and then be able to gain business from their Japanese clients. In other words, even though both are high-tech industrial agglomerations, in Silicon Valley, companies were required to become familiar with local business practices to acquire resources, while in Dalian, local key enterprises were required to take on business practices of their customer MNEs to gain resources. Thus, it is not easy to make generalizations about high-tech industrial agglomeration models based on the case of Silicon Valley, which may, in fact, be a special case.

著者

Heejin KIM

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.5, pp.221-237, 2016-10-15 (Released:2016-10-15)

参考文献数

42

被引用文献数

3

---

This paper reviews existing studies on the language strategies of multinational corporations (MNCs)—a subject that has received increasing attention since the late 2000s. In most of these existing studies, both academics and practitioners have tended to focus primarily on Englishization. That is, English as a lingua franca has been taken for granted, and most related studies have discussed organizational problems caused by Englishization and the solutions to those problems. However, English as a lingua franca is only one of various options, and it is incorrect to conclude that MNCs’ available language strategies are limited to Englishization. Instead, existing studies on language strategy take more multi-faceted perspectives and propose bilingual or multilingual strategies, choosing the term “language strategy” because of the increased emphasis on these various options.

著者

Hidenori SATO

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.1, pp.49-58, 2016-02-15 (Released:2016-02-15)

参考文献数

14

被引用文献数

5

---

Eisenhardt (1989) is one of the most frequently cited studies on the methodological fundamentals of the case study for theory construction. This paper will first summarize the methodology espoused by Eisenhardt (1989). Eisenhardt suggests nine steps for conducting a case study as an effective research method for theory construction. However, most of the research that cites Eisenhardt only emphasizes generalizability. To be sure, Eisenhardt (1989) takes a stance of positivism and has an awareness of quantitative empirical research. However, he does not necessarily advocate only generalizability. Regardless, some studies that have drawn on Eisenhardt (1989) have emphasized only generalizability. This has the potential of restricting theory construction using case studies.

著者

Junjiro SHINTAKU Shigeru ASABA

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.13, no.1, pp.47-66, 2014-02-15 (Released:2014-02-15)

参考文献数

21

被引用文献数

1

---

This paper first presents the following as obstacles to the generational switch of industry standards: (1) magnitude of installed base, (2) ample scope for technological progress based on existing standards, (3) limited applicability of accumulated technology to new standards, and (4) lack of investment capability. Next, we examine strategies to overcome such obstacles and migrate to new standards. Finally, we analyze the cooperation between a company that advocates new standards and one that produces complementary products when implementing those standards through the case study of the family console game industry. The results of analysis demonstrate that Nintendo has a traditional self-reliance strategy, whereas new entrant Sony has a collaborative one.

著者

Takeyasu ICHIKOHJI Sotaro KATSUMATA

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.13, no.1, pp.17-29, 2014-02-15 (Released:2014-02-15)

参考文献数

30

被引用文献数

5 8

---

The relationship between innovation and consumption among internet users is not uniform. This research shows different relationships between innovation and consumption in terms of the level of involvement in music from an internet survey of 1,000 music users. We measure the level of involvement in music using the two levels of components of involvement suggested by Lastovicka and Gardner (1979). For the analysis, we divide the samples into the “high involvement” and “low involvement” groups and examine each group for their relationship between innovation, indicated by “making one's own music and posting one's songs or performances on the internet,” and consumption, indicated by “average amount of money spent on music downloads per year.” The results show that there are heterogeneous characteristics among high and low levels of involvement groups in the aspects of consumption and innovation behavior. In the low involvement group, users actively innovating are also actively consuming. However, in the high involvement group, there is no clear relationship between innovation and consumption. To put it concretely, the consumption per innovating user is approximately four times more than that of non-innovating users in the low involvement group, but it is about the same in the high involvement group. In addition, the consumption per innovating user in the low involvement group is approximately two times more than that of innovating users in the high involvement group.

著者

Ryusuke KOSUGE Nobuo TAKAHASHI

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.6, pp.273-284, 2016-12-15 (Released:2016-12-15)

参考文献数

19

被引用文献数

2 6

---

Observations of a Japanese automobile dealer company shifting from a selling orientation to a market orientation revealed the following: (1) A market-oriented program with a process and team orientation threatened the self-concept of the sales force and was rejected by most of them; (2) when three out of 54 shops, or only approximately 5%, appeared to be developing a form of market orientation, the top management selected managers of those three shops as well as changed the existing evaluation and reward system, which caused market orientation to take precedence in the organization. It should be noted that what happened at this company was contrary to natural selection or competitive isomorphism. At first, these three shops performed so poorly that they could well have been “selected out.” However, the top management allowed the three shops to survive and, when the time was ripe, deliberately made an effort to spread the form of market orientation within the organization. In essence, it is suggested that the key mechanism of developing a market orientation is institutional isomorphism through artificial selection.

著者

Seungkee MIN

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.6, pp.265-272, 2016-12-15 (Released:2016-12-15)

参考文献数

11

被引用文献数

2 2

---

Von Hippel (1988) coined the term “user innovation” by arguing that semiconductor device makers (equipment users) played a critical role as innovators in the development of semiconductor process equipments. However, in the same period of this study, the Japanese semiconductor process equipment manufacturer, ULVAC, autonomously conducted fundamental research on the material composition of cobalt–nickel–chrome (CoNiCr), a study that is generally conducted by device makers. Based on the material research outcome, ULVAC developed new manufacturing equipment for HDD and supplied it to users (device makers). Here we define this phenomenon as “adverse user innovation,” which works in an opposite manner to the “user innovation” of von Hippel (1988). In fact, there are likely to be numerous other examples similar to this case.

著者

Youngkyo SUH

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.6, pp.251-263, 2016-12-15 (Released:2016-12-15)

参考文献数

18

被引用文献数

1 4

---

The production systems of Japanese companies are considered to be firm-specific advantages, which lead to superior productivity. The mother factory system, exemplified by Toyota Motor Corporation, has been used as a primary method for transferring Japanese production systems overseas. However in recent years, some companies, such as Hyundai Motor Company of Korea, have begun using a different way to transfer production methods overseas. This paper terms this method the “model factory system” and compares it with the mother factory system within the framework of knowledge transfer theory. In this framework, production systems are regarded as knowledge held by the home country. In this analytical framework, members, tools, and manuals represent knowledge that is directly moved; skills, organizations, and layouts represent knowledge that can be reproduced by the recipient. This framework was used to analyze cases of production system transfer overseas by Toyota Motor Corporation and Hyundai Motor Company. It was shown that the mother factory system primarily transfers knowledge from the home country’s factories, whereas the model factory system transfers knowledge from the corporate headquarters.

著者

Shohei HAMAMATSU

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.5, pp.211-220, 2016-10-15 (Released:2016-10-15)

参考文献数

15

被引用文献数

1 2

---

In response to arguments on the hollowing out of industries whereby an expansion in overseas production causes decreased domestic production, recent studies, primarily in the field of international economics, have pointed out the increase in domestic production due to an expansion in overseas production. Regarding specific mechanisms, Amano (2000) emphasized that when large companies with abundant management resources expand their overseas production, their spontaneous and induced conversion behaviors cause an increase in domestic production. Responding to this assertion, on the basis of case studies on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with few management resources, this paper discovered a mechanism in which abundant management resources are not assumed. This mechanism was observed in the automotive parts industry in Japan, which faces difficulties in acquiring new customers because of fixed relationships. In this industry, it is possible to acquire new customers domestically through torihiki-jisseki (“track record of transactions” in Japanese) when overseas manufacturing sites conduct business with new customers. However, this strategy is a paradox for SMEs in Japan that wish to grow and survive domestically since it advocates overseas expansion rather than domestic expansion.

著者

Nobuyuki INAMIZU

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.5, pp.199-209, 2016-10-15 (Released:2016-10-15)

参考文献数

20

被引用文献数

5

---

This study conducted a questionnaire survey of all employees at a company that moved its office location, both before and after the move. Results of the survey showed that while work environment satisfaction rose significantly because of the office move, there was no significant change in job satisfaction (in fact, some deterioration was observed). In addition, there was no significant change in the perspective index, which is regarded as a factor in job satisfaction, after the move. Existing studies on offices have asserted that job satisfaction increases along with work environment satisfaction. These results, however, made it difficult to posit such simple causation, showing the need for further testing and consideration.

著者

Atsushi AKIIKE Sotaro KATSUMATA

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.3, pp.149-161, 2016-06-15 (Released:2016-06-15)

参考文献数

18

被引用文献数

2

---

The mobile phone market in Japan has a particular type of user, called a “dual product user,” who uses multiple mobile phones. Compared with other mobile phone users, dual product users possess a high level of consumer knowledge regarding mobile phones. Their ability to process information based on their high level of consumer knowledge may enable them to use multiple products. In fact, during our survey, the mobile phones (iPhones, other types of smartphones, and feature phones) had quite diverse characteristics. In addition, dual product users tended to use mobile phones for gaming. This is likely due to the high telecommunications fees levied on smartphones in Japan as well as the complicated structure of these fees. In assessing these characteristics, users with a high level of consumer knowledge consider their own patterns of usage when using multiple mobile phones for different purposes. These findings will increase the potential for marketing to target those with a high degree of such knowledge.

著者

Hiroki KIKUCHI Shumpei IWAO

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.0160213a, (Released:2016-05-13)

参考文献数

17

被引用文献数

1 4

---

Since the development of the idea of dynamic capabilities by Teece, Pisano, and Shuen (1997), it has been broadly discussed. However, there is no general view regarding the types of competencies that can be called dynamic capabilities. Teece et al. (1997) asserted that dynamic capabilities are one of the roles of organizational processes. Moreover, they asserted that organizational processes include static concepts, such as integration and coordination. This fact caused some confusion. Helfat and Winter (2011) contrasted the two concepts of operational and dynamic capabilities. They noted that the source of confusion was the fact that some competencies possess the nature of both concepts. In other words, three types of capabilities exist: pure operational, pure dynamic, and hybrid capabilities possessing both features. Helfat and Winter (2011) presented the example of corporate growth, such as an expansion in retail stores, an area where pure dynamic capabilities without any operational capabilities can be observed. Therefore, if pure dynamic capabilities are the pure competencies necessary for corporate growth, it is highly likely that these are the same competencies posited by Penrose (1959), who differentiated between economies of growth and economies of size. Takahashi (2015) conjectured that competencies that become resources unused for anything but growth are, more specifically, “competencies for start-up experts.”

著者

Kenichi KUWASHIMA

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.0160224a, (Released:2016-05-11)

参考文献数

19

被引用文献数

1 4

---

In pharmaceutical research and development of drugs, discovering new drugs from a large number of potential alternatives (chemical compounds), which are theoretically as many as 1060, is an important challenge. Here the new-drug discovery process was explored through a case study on Rozerem from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. Although the recent mainstream approach is to generate and test a large number of alternatives using automation technologies, Rozerem was discovered through exploration of a small number of alternatives with rational chemical compound design, based on researchers’ experience and knowledge.

著者

Hideko KONO

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.3, pp.119-128, 2016-06-15 (Released:2016-06-15)

参考文献数

13

被引用文献数

2 2

---

This study provides an analysis of the successful diversification process from the perspective of “weak ties.” Weak ties bring about new knowledge that does not overlap existing knowledge and are therefore useful to firms entering new markets. This study analyzes the diversification process using the example of Tokai Buhin Kogyo Co. Ltd., which successfully diversified from automobile components to medical equipment. The company’s president initiated the formation of weak ties, which the company then developed into strong ties so that it could acquire the knowledge and competence needed for entering the medical equipment business. As a result, the company was able to successively overcome three types of critical obstacles—technological, regulatory, and market—to diversifying into the medical equipment business.

著者

Takeaki WADA

出版者

グローバルビジネスリサーチセンター・東京大学MERC

雑誌

Annals of Business Administrative Science (ISSN:13474464)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.0160118a, (Released:2016-03-10)

参考文献数

24

被引用文献数

2 2

---

Business management research in Japan categorizes resources into four categories: people, goods, money, and information. Among these, there has been a strong focus on information-based resources, which are company-specific. The notion that these resources are the basis of competitive advantage and inimitability has been considered the reason that Japanese companies exhibited a high level of international competitiveness in the 1980s. However, Japan’s international competitiveness has been declining since the 1990s. In fact, (a) information-based resources include not only information but also the capability to utilize that information, (b) resources with low inimitability are mixed in with information-based resources, and (c) information-based resources exhibit stickiness not to companies but to people and goods. Therefore, information-based resources do not automatically become sources of competitiveness. These facts were not comprehended until the 1980s, because Japanese companies were unconsciously able to accumulate information-based resources with high inimitability through Japanese-style management systems, like the lifetime commitment system. However, these preconditions for Japanese competitiveness were lost in the 1990s, resulting in an outflow of information-based resources embodied in workers and the decline of Japanese companies’ international competitiveness.