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This note sketches the evolution and growing centrality of Japan's science, technology and innovation (STI) policy over the past quarter century, from the Basic Law on Science and Technology in 1995 to the new Science, Technology and Innovation Basic Law in 2020. It highlights: the shift from a primary emphasis on economic value and competitiveness to encompass social needs, resilience and sustainability; the growing importance of mission-oriented innovation policy (MOIP); the consequent need for new coordination mechanisms across government and at different levels, from local to international; the need for continuous evaluation and adjustment mechanisms as opposed to post-project/programme evaluation; and the need for human resources for these. The Strategic Innovation Programme (SIP) Automated Driving Project is described as a pioneering model of cross-ministerial MOIP, and key challenges for the forthcoming 7th STI Basic Plan (2026–30) are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This article probes Japan's space diplomacy in a world returned to great power competition. Today, Japan's space diplomacy manifests in a wide variety of contexts at the global, regional and bilateral levels. The principal argument is that the Japanese state is responding to gathering external threats through diplomacy that communicates, persuades and bargains in the country's science, economic and military space interests. This proactive positioning allows Japan to situate its advanced technologies in the context of fierce economic competition, cultivate an image as a pacifist and responsible actor in the turbulent international order, and set pragmatic expectations about building peaceful prospects in outer space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops a conceptual framework for explaining variation in the United States' economic statecraft in the Cold War and the present day, focusing on how US officials perceived the type of geoeconomic capability that its rivals possessed and the type of national security challenge that they posed. This framework specifies four ideal-type strategies on the part of the United States: economic containment, national economic competition, technological containment, and national technological competition. Analyses of U.S. strategy toward the Soviet Union, China, and Japan support the theory. These ideal types explain why, in the rivalry with Japan in the 1980s, the United States openly engaged in competition but did not adopt containment, relying on Voluntary Export Restraints, currency devaluation agreements, and bilateral semiconductor agreements rather than placing Japan on something historically analogous to the Commerce Department's contemporary Entity List or targeting Japan with comprehensive export controls through an institution like CoCom. These ideal types (and the theory behind them) also explain why the United States has implemented containment measures against specific Chinese companies but has not pursued a systematic "decoupling" of the US and Chinese economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging photovoltaic (PV) devices with perovskite or organic absorber layers may play a substantial role in our energy future due to their potential low‐cost manufacture and differing properties compared to established silicon equivalents. However, it is not clear to what extent physical and human geography influences the cost competitiveness of emerging PV, and consequently, how emerging PV should be optimized for differing locations. Herein, a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) model is used to examine the influence of insolation and economic factors by predicting the price of energy from emerging PV in eight different countries. Herein, it is demonstrated that capital costs play an important role in competitiveness, with low capital cost locations (e.g., India) benefitting more from low module costs and improved degradation, whereas high‐cost locations (e.g., Japan) benefitted more from improved efficiency. The importance of considering location is demonstrated in the results as part of selecting which emerging PV is used, which is emphasized by predictions of LCOE for emerging PV devices reported in the literature over an 8 year period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the existence of convergence among the Far East countries in terms offoreign trade competitiveness, by using real effective exchange rate data of 17 countries for the period 1995M01-2021M08, each calculated on the basis of CPI and weighted against their 143 trading partners, with the test for linearity by Hansen (1996), and Caner & Hansen (2001), the threshold autoregressive (TAR) panel unit root test by Beyaert and Camacho (2008), and tests for determining types of convergence by Ferreira and Vieira (2009). In the study, in which the series were determined to be nonlinear, firstly it was found that the foreign trade competitiveness of the Far East Countries converges to the group average not during the periods of economic recession, but during the periods of economic expansion. It was established that the foreign trade competitiveness of the Far East Countries partially converges to the foreign trade competitiveness of Japan during both periods of economic recession and expansion. It was also determined that the foreign trade competitiveness of the Far East Countries partially converges to the foreign trade competitiveness of China in economic recession periods, while this convergence is full during economic expansion periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate firm‐level determinants of capital structure using a large sample of 4,284 Japanese firms over a 19‐year period (i.e., over 61,000 firm‐year observations), a hitherto less examined sample for this purpose. We conduct our analysis and interpret our findings predominantly within the pecking order, the trade‐off and the agency theoretical frameworks. We uncover three new findings. First, our evidence indicates that insights derived from the extant literature on capital structure are cross‐national and are applicable in the context of Japan, despite the unique characteristics of Japanese firms. Second, financial crisis significantly impacts the relationship between leverage and firm‐level determinants, particularly accentuating the effect of asset tangibility and growth. Third, product market competition significantly impacts the observed relationship between firm‐level determinants and leverage. Our results are robust, controlling for the joint effects of competition and crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China and Japan continued to vie over a wide variety of issues including economic competitiveness, jurisdiction over territorial waters, World War II responsibilities, representation in international organizations, and even Olympic and Paralympic medals. The Japanese government expressed concern with the increasingly obvious presence of Chinese ships and planes in and around areas under its jurisdiction, with Chinese sources accusing Japan of a Cold War mentality. Nothing was heard of Xi Jinping's long-planned and often postponed official visit to Tokyo. Also, Chinese admonitions that Japan recognize that its best interests lay not with a declining United States but in joining forces with a rising China were conspicuous by their absence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent findings indicate that the Japanese IT sector increasingly lags the U.S. IT sector in software innovation and that this underlies Japan's weakening competitive performance vis-à-vis U.S. IT. This article explores alternative explanations for this outcome and analyzes what explains the Japanese software industry's trajectory. The sources are found in the late understanding of the transformational role of software and its value-creating potential as well as in the evolution of the industry's structure. Finally, this article considers what policy makers in other nations might learn from the Japanese experience in building a more vibrant software industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Basic Education College Magazine For Educational & Humanities Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Most states have a national anti-trust or competition law to regulate anti-competitive activities. There is no doubt that, in purely domestic cases, where an anti-competitive activity and its anti-competitive effects have occurred within a state, that state's national competition authority can regulate the activity by applying its competition law. For cross-border cases such as where anti-competitive activities are carried out abroad but have anti-competitive effects on the domestic or internal market of that state or region, it has been gradually accepted that a state can apply its competition law to the activities on the basis of the effects within its territory. However, it should be noted that states have approached such cases differently. In 2017, the Supreme Court of Japan first decided the international scope of the Japanese Anti-Monopoly Act (JAMA) in cross-border cartel cases and clarified that the JAMA could apply to anti-competitive activities conducted outside of Japan if the activities in question disturbed the free competition economic order of Japan. The court did not mention the effects doctrine or the territorial principle. This article examines on what grounds and how far the JAMA can and should apply to cross-border cartel cases by analysing the Supreme Court judgement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines innovation responses of a panel of Japanese firms to the intensified import competition from China in the period 1995–2005. We build a comprehensive firm‐level dataset linking patents and R&D merged to cross‐industry measures of Chinese import competition. Accounting for a simultaneity bias between innovation and importing and the possible heterogeneous effects across firms, we found that patenting has increased in response to an influx of Chinese imports, but it has adversely affected the quality of innovation, measured by forward citations received. These effects are only observed for globally engaged firms, not for firms focusing on the domestic market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1982, Japan launched its Fifth Generation Computer Systems project (FGCS), designed to develop intelligent software that would run on novel computer hardware. As the first national, large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) research and development (R&D) project to be free from military influence and corporate profit motives, the FGCS was open, international, and oriented around public goods. Although the FGCS did not plan any commercialized technologies, many American computer experts portrayed it as an economic threat to U.S. dominance in computing and the global economy--and policymakers around the developed world believed them and funded AI projects of their own. Later, however, the FGCS was remembered as a failure. Why? This article recasts the FGCS as an interstice in the shift from a state-funded regime of American science organization to the neoliberal privatized regime of R&D now ascendant around the world. By exploring how notions of economic competitiveness and national security shaped R&D, this article reveals AI to be a product of contingent choices by multiple actors--nation-states, government bureaucracies, corporations, and individuals--rather than the outcome of deterministic technological forces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most powerful economies in the global economic system is Japan. Nowadays the global economic system is facing many economic and political challenges. Owing to the fact that Japan is one of the most powerful economies, it has to maintain or enhance its economic power in order to face the upcoming challenges. Japanese economic growth is a combination of export growth, private investment and consumption. In order to overcome slow growth, Japan launched "Abenomics", a policy based on three "arrows": bold monetary policy, flexible fiscal policy, and a growth strategy. Despite the adoption of Abenomics, Japan's economy has to overcome three major challenges. First, government debt continues to rise as a percentage of GDP. Second, Japan is faced with declining population growth, which reduces its potential economic growth. The Japanese population is aging fast and, as a result this will limit growth and productivity because of a shrinking and aging labour force. The most important challenge for the Japanese economy is potential economic competition from China in high-technology products. Japan is facing increasing competition from China. The main economic advantage that Japan maintains is its high technological development in several sectors. The aim of this paper is to show whether Japan has a Revealed Comparative Advantage in high-technology exports. The methodology adopted is the theory of comparative advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We develop a markup approach for the costs of power generation technologies. • The markup is a metric for use in multi-region multi-sector energy-economic models. • We provide standardized markups for technologies for different regions of the world. • Calculations are most sensitive to capital and fuel costs and capacity factors. • We apply our approach to project energy mixes for different future scenarios. Multi-region multi-sector energy-economic models are often used to analyze long-term scenarios of energy development, however, these models usually rely on a simplified representation of technological details in power generation. To strengthen this representation, we develop a method for modeling the economic competition between different advanced technologies in multi-region multi-sector dynamic energy-economic models based on a markup approach, which represents the measure of the cost of a technology relative to the price received for electricity generation. The markup includes capital costs, fixed and variable operating and maintenance (O&M) costs, fuel costs, and transmission and distribution (T&D) costs. For intermittent technologies, it also includes a backup requirement to make these technologies effectively dispatchable. For carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies, it also includes the costs of CO 2 capture, transportation and storage. We provide a standardized markup calculation for generation technologies for different regions of the world, including USA, China, India, EU, Japan and others. Then we analyze the sensitivity of the calculation to critical inputs, including capital costs, fuel costs, carbon prices and capacity factors. We provide a detailed calculation of the relative costs of the following technologies: new pulverized coal, new pulverized coal with CCS, natural gas combined cycle, natural gas with CCS, biomass-fueled plant, biomass with CCS, advanced nuclear, wind (for small and medium penetration levels), solar, wind with backup (for large penetration levels), co-firing of coal and biomass combined with CCS, and advanced CCS on natural gas. For illustration, we incorporate the markups into the MIT Economic Projection and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model, a global multi-sector multi-sector dynamic energy-economic model with a detailed representation of power generation technologies, and run several scenarios. Our analysis and results provide insight on the deployment of different low-carbon power generation technologies depending on assumptions about carbon policy stringency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the sequential entry process of Japanese electronic manufacturing firms into the United States during the period 1976-89. The firms first entered their core businesses and those in which they had a strong competitive advantage over local firms to reduce the hazard of failure. Learning from early entries enabled them to launch further entries into noncore businesses and into areas of weaker competitive advantage. The overall evidence suggests that Japanese firms are building capabilities to operate overseas through sequential entry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the presence of foreign multinational business enterprises in the U.S. A table is presented of the revenues generated in North America by Foreign-based multinational corporations in 1991. In contrast to the 1970s, American firms are no longer dominant in foreign direct investment. Investment into the United States has exploded, as the author notes that, by the end of the 1980s, foreign investment in the United States was almost equal to American investment abroad. Multinational corporations from Europe and Asia are providing challenging competition for American firms. The rate of returns based on market value for foreign direct investment in the U.S. is compared to that of the United States' direct investment abroad.

The article focuses on aspects of profitability and competitiveness that can be learned from the actions of Japanese and United States corporations during the 1980's. Differences in the performance between Japanese and American corporations reflect fundamental differences in corporate objectives and the business strategies that the companies' employ. A study examining the averaged annual returns on assets (ROA), returns on equity (ROE) and operating margins (OM) of a sample of Japanese and American corporations is discussed. Data from the study is examined, indicating that though American companies appear to be more profitable, Japanese companies are more competitive in the long run.

Japan is recognized as a major competitor in world markets but is less well-known as an attractive market in its own right. This paper proposes that with the right strategies it is possible to successfully penetrate the difficult Japanese market. Problems and opportunities presented by the market are discussed, and some of the findings of a survey of Japanese and German mangers in Japan and German-based managers are reviewed. The paper covers the survey findings on market characteristics, barriers to entry, information requirements, factors contributing to success and methods of market entry. German and UK sources of information and advice on the Japanese market are given for those interested in pursuing the matter further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of Japan’s 2009 adoption of a territorial tax regime using event study methods which leverage individual firm characteristics to identify underlying drivers of market reactions. Differences in Japanese firms’ foreign and domestic effective tax rates yield an aggregate capitalization effect of ¥4.3 trillion, while firms with less prior foreign exposure and fewer opportunities for tax avoidance experienced relatively larger abnormal returns. We attribute these results to tax savings on existing undistributed foreign earnings, enhanced opportunities for international expansion, and cultural biases against tax planning. Spillovers to the US (through tax or firm competition) appear insignificant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Drug price setting is one of the key challenges faced by the Japanese health care system. This study aims to identify the determinants of drug price in Japan using the example of the rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment market.Research Design and Methods: In order to compare prices across different products, we calculated prices per defined daily dose using WHO methodology. Price determinants were calculated both at launch and over time using IMS quarterly data on medicines approved for RA treatment in Japan from 2012 to 2015. Pharmaceutical pricing was modeled as a function of clinical and economic variables using regression analysis.Results: For prices at the launch we found that differences in efficacy are not reflected in price differentials. We also report that the number of products within a molecule class had a negative effect on prices while originator drugs maintained higher prices.Conclusion: Although the existing pricing rules in Japan are very comprehensive they do not necessarily capture differences in product characteristics. The findings here support the notion that competitive forces are weak in highly regulated markets such as Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the privatization neutrality theorem when a public firm pursues general objectives other than welfare maximization. This theorem states that when the government gives firms optimal subsidies, welfare is exactly the same before and after privatization. However, we present a seemingly paradoxical result. When a public firm incorrectly assumes that subsidies change the welfare size, privatization is necessarily welfare neutral, whereas when the public firm correctly recognizes that subsidies only bring about income redistribution, without affecting welfare, the situations in which neutrality holds are limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although state transformation after the 1980s has been a major topic of debate in political science, the transformation of the Japanese state has not been fully explored, with the pluralist and rational choice approaches dominating within the Japanese politics literature. This article addresses the lacuna by exploring state transformation in Japan's antimonopoly regulation after the 1980s, focusing on the state at the macro level through analysing evolving power relations within the core executive in response to the challenges of governance. The case study reveals the flexible change of power relations within the core executive; the core executive retained its dominance within policy-making arenas through this adaptation, which is regarded as the reconstitution of the state. Drawing on that, the article argues that the nature of state transformation in Japan is the sustained dominance of the core executive as a collective group over the sector through reconstituting the state. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A strategy that uses the productive performance of a manufacturing site (or genba), noted as a strength of Japan's manufacturing industry by Fujimoto (2003), might also be called a capability-based cost leadership strategy (CBCL strategy). In the 1990s, this strategy ceased to function due to environment changes, and the international competitiveness of Japan's manufacturing industry declined. As a means of breaking through those circumstances, Fujimoto emphasized strengthening market performance and choosing a differentiation strategy for appealing to consumers based on high product quality. In the end, however, the performance of Japan's manufacturing industry is restored after the environment changed to become favorable to a CBCL strategy such as rising labor costs in newly developing countries and a shift to a weaker yen. This suggests that many Japanese manufacturers could not shift to differentiation strategies based on enhanced competitiveness in the market, and CBCL strategies were left in place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Media & Communication / Mediji i Komunikacije is the property of Academy of Social Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study sheds light on the operation of Japanese competition policy by focusing on a public procurement bid-rigging case in the construction industry. The analysis demonstrates a firm-entry effect on the construction market and shows that the bidding and winning price levels before an investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission were higher than they were after the investigation. According to these results, price levels in the bid-rigging period were approximately 6% higher than with competition, and the result is statistically significant. Firm entry is associated with an approximate 2% price reduction, an effect that comes from introducing competition into a coordinated setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]