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The use of robotics in construction has been experimented with for nearly fifty years. Selen Ercan Jenny, Guest‐Editor of this AD, and Abel Gawel, Principal Researcher in Computer Vision and Machine Learning with the Huawei European Research Center, run us through a brief history of such developments, and describe the sustainable advantages of contemporary research in this field alongside the many hurdles still to be overcome to achieve the full adoption of robots on construction sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the childcare balancing policy and women's fertility intention in Japanese corporations. This paper constructed two logistic regression models based on data from the 2010 Japanese Life Course Survey of Youth to analyze the correlation between childcare balancing policies and women's fertility intentions. The binary logistic regression method was used. The results showed that women's fertility intention is negatively associated with the childcare balancing policy in Japanese corporations. This may be because the research object already had a child or children. The results indicate that the fertility intention of women who had a child or children was lower than those without children. This paper discovered that regular employees had higher fertility intentions than non-regular staff. This paper provides policymakers with valuable insights on establishing effective childcare policies to enhance women's fertility intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary: When can a firm make fine‐grained adjustments to misaligned subsidiary governance? We examine whether and under what conditions a firm will adapt the equity stake it owns in a subsidiary, enabling improved alignment of the stake with the uncertainty in the local environment. We predict that the rate of adaptation of misaligned equity stakes depends on the experiential and vicarious learning from which the firm can draw, and that these learning effects are contingent on possessing fungible slack resources, specifically cash. Using a sample of 726 Japanese‐foreign subsidiaries established in 38 host countries over a 21‐year period, we find support in line with our predictions. Overall, this study explicates heterogeneous adaptability in subsidiary governance and similar strategic tasks. Managerial Summary: Whether due to suboptimal choices or changing conditions, firms must sometimes change how they relate with and control their subsidiaries. Whereas much research has addressed adaptation in the form of discrete changes in ownership mode, we examine under what conditions a firm can make fine‐grained adjustments to misaligned subsidiary governance. We argue that a firm can learn to make such adjustments, not only from its own experience but also vicariously by observing other firms in the same foreign environment. Furthermore, we consider whether cash is a valuable resource for this purpose. Overall, this study shows how firms can pursue strategic adaptation in subsidiary governance and related tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine the historical development of Japanese restaurants in New York City (NYC). There are two main findings. First, the postwar expansion of Japanese companies into the US led to an increase in corporate demand for Japanese restaurants for entertaining their clients, which stimulated development of upscale Japanese restaurants. In some cases, Japanese companies directly invested in expanding Japanese restaurants into NYC. Second, the only Japanese cuisine known to Americans in the past was sukiyaki, tempura, and teriyaki, but through the efforts of various entrepreneurs, less well-known Japanese dishes such as sushi and ramen have become new icons of Japanese cuisine. More recently, Japanese cuisine has been further subdivided into a variety of restaurants, including izakaya (Japanese-style pub) and restaurants specializing in items such as yakitori (skewered chicken), curry rice, motsunabe (a hotpot dish with mainly beef or pork), karaage (fried chicken), okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancake), and yoshoku (Western-influenced cooking). Because of this collective effort by entrepreneurs, NYC has achieved a diversification of Japanese cuisine not seen in any other part of the US.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the childcare balancing policy and women’s fertility intention in Japanese corporations. This paper constructed two logistic regression models based on data from the 2010 Japanese Life Course Survey of Youth to analyze the correlation between childcare balancing policies and women’s fertility intentions. The binary logistic regression method was used. The results showed that women’s fertility intention is negatively associated with the childcare balancing policy in Japanese corporations. This may be because the research object already had a child or children. The results indicate that the fertility intention of women who had a child or children was lower than those without children. This paper discovered that regular employees had higher fertility intentions than non-regular staff. This paper provides policymakers with valuable insights on establishing effective childcare policies to enhance women’s fertility intentions.

Despite horenso playing an essential role in Japanese corporation communication, not to mention in digital corporations, there is a tendency for junior local staff to need help to implement the horenso pattern. Furthermore, in digital Japanese corporations, staff interact through specific chat applications, which tends to cause misunderstandings. Therefore, this study aims to examine semantically the horenso communication patterns conducted by interns working as virtual assistants in Japanese corporations. This research conducted a qualitative method research with a content analysis approach. This research concludes that the tendency of the horenso patterns applied by virtual assistant interns is hokoku and renraku with distinctive Japanese dictions and sentence patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In order to meet both industrial growth and environmental requirements, we have developed in this article an approach for a Lean Management that is interested in reducing waste as well as quality at any level. Desigh/Methodology/Approach: This approach focuses on the formalization and eval-uation of logistics processes. This method and its implementation on the supply chain of a large multinational in automotive wiring are a guide for organizations wishing to be part of a Lean Management approach. More in details we will make a loop on two factors, on the one hand Lean management practices and Human resources, on the other hand we will the Process of Lean management implementation in production lines at a Japanese company in Automotive Cabling (Supply in terms of components and tubes in production lines). Findings: The cost reduction, continuous improvement and industries' performance are very important topics for organization all over the world, for this reason several companies have implemented lean management to improve and optimize productivity and quality management systems. Practical Implementation: The study suggest that in order to success implementation of lean management, companies should focus on two important issues, first human ressources and its impact on changes (internal and external factors), second involve management in supporting teams to understand the practice of this strategy and its positive result for the organization, this is the only way to improve cost reduction in production lines abd the processes for the organization. Originality value: The assurance of continuous success of the company shows that lean management has become one of the important strategies to implement in order to be more competitive and improve performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twentieth century Japan provides a remarkable laboratory for examining how an externally imposed institutional and regulatory intervention affects the ownership of corporations. In the first half of the century, Japan had weak legal protection but strong institutional arrangements. The institutions were dismantled after the war and replaced by a strong form of legal protection. This inversion resulted in a switch from Japan being a country in which equity markets flourished and ownership was dispersed in the first half of the century to one in which banks and companies dominated with interlocking shareholdings in the second half of the century. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Eleven Japanese corporate executives and 10 Bangladeshi village-based entrepreneurs stand around an array of gleaming solar panels perched precariously on piles of bricks and hay. Despite being labeled a "social enterprise," this solar-energy initiative emerged neither from development planning nor from a company's market strategy. Instead, the project emerged from a chaotic series of events and the Japanese state's decentralized patronage politics that drew together a cluster of non-state actors in a haphazard initiative in Bangladesh. This article offers an ethnographic case of ephemeral encounters (building on Faier and Rofel) and contributes to a theory of transient assemblages in development (drawing on Tsing and DeLanda). It teases apart the diverse factors that produced and were produced by a solar social-enterprise pilot project, which neither arose from a plan for a social enterprise nor generated one. I argue for a diffuse understanding of project agency, the productivity of noncommunicative interaction, and the unequal material politics that characterize these encounters across difference. This alternative view on development decenters the project and instead focuses on the emergent properties of the act of assembling, even when the assemblage fails to cohere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing numbers of corporations are now operating across national borders as a result of globalization. The "language barrier" is the first and foremost challenge they encounter when starting a business in a foreign market, and many companies are trying to solve the problem by adopting a common corporate language. Using English as an official corporate language is the most common solution for those corporations. The present study explored the impacts of English as a corporate official language policy implemented at a company, a rapidly developed high profile IT Company with 20,000 employees, in Japan, a country often perceived to be relatively monolingual and monocultural. When I started studying the company, I first found that the company's motive to use English as the official corporate language was different from other instances of corporate language policy making I had come across. In previous studies (e.g., Feely & Harzing 2003; Marschan-Piekkari, Welch, & Welch 1999), the companies implemented common corporate language to solve problems caused by language barriers between employees with diverse linguistic backgrounds. However, the company in this study implemented the corporate language policy to prepare for globalization and recruit talents globally. When the company introduced the English-only language policy, most of the employees of the company were Japanese. Therefore, at the time of implementing the language policy, there was no compelling reason for them to use English. The language policy did not work effectively except for a few departments with non-Japanese employees who spoke different first languages. English functioned as a lingua franca in those departments with multinational employees. The findings indicate that for NNESs (non-native English speakers) to communicate with each other in English, the environment has to be more multilingual, less dominated by a single first language. Although almost all Japanese citizens are required to take intensive English courses in compulsory schoolings, the average level of English proficiency is considered to be relatively low in the advanced economies. The present study indicates that it is not for linguistic competence but a lack of interaction with other ELF speakers. Therefore, for learners of ELF in an intensely monolingual society such as Japan to become competent communicators in ELF, providing multilingual learning environments would be more effective than the prevailing teaching practices of classroom learning in L1 Japanese speaker only environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, focusing on visual management (VM) technology as an effective vehicle of continuous improvement activities, Kaizen case-base and its effectiveness are discussed by following three steps. For the first step, a framework of a Kaizen case transfer is placed to develop for effective VM development and transfer. For the second step, an example of VM case-base is constructed by using VM cases collected through a literature survey and factory investigations. For the third step, performance of the example VM case-base is validated by applying the proposed procedure, which consists of: (1) clarifying instances of current Kaizen problem; (2) retrieving Kaizen case-base by using established instances to detect applicable Kaizen cases; (3) developing suitable Kaizen cases to solve the current problem effectively; (4) applying suitable Kaizen cases to the current problem; and. (5) registering applied Kaizen cases for the current problem in Kaizen case-base, instances of it being clarified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how larger Japanese firms, and in turn the Japanese economy, has restructured since the burst of Japan's asset-inflated economic bubble in 1989. Based on interviews, surveys, and analysis of the appointment calendars of 79 Japanese CEOs, this research examines changes in CEO priorities since 1989 and how these changes reflect larger shifts in the way business is conducted in larger Japanese firms. The authors find that Japanese CEOs and their firms are becoming much more focused on investor relations than on bank relations, more focused on media relations and promoting their firm to the market, and less focused on government relations as Japan undergoes deregulation. The authors also find that Japanese CEOs are focusing more on external factors, with greater emphasis on shareholders and less attention to employees. Within the firm, Japanese decision-making is becoming more top-down than middle-up-down, as well as less hierarchical with fewer levels of management. In addition, Japanese CEOs and their firms are focusing more on outsourcing and hiring non-regular workers. The most surprising finding, however, is the absence of radical change in terms of personnel-related priorities and practices, in light of the length and degree of Japan's recession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the determinants of the decision to invest abroad and the choice of spatial configurations of overseas plants for 120 Japanese firms active in 36 well-defined electronic product markets. We find that key competitive drivers at the firm and industry levels have a critical impact on the choice between alternative international plant configurations. Regional configurations focused on Asia are chosen by firms with weaker competitiveness for products with established manufacturing technologies. Plant configurations focused on the United States and the European Union are chosen by technology-intensive firms facing competitive threats in foreign markets. Global configurations are chosen by firms with a strong competitive position in the Japanese and world market for their core product businesses and are more common in the case of strong oligopolistic rivalry between Japanese firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationalizing research and development is often advocated as a strategy for fostering the development of technological capabilities. Although firms conduct international R&D to tap into knowledge bases that reside in foreign countries, we argue that in order to benefit from international R&D investments firms must already possess research capabilities in underlying or complementary technologies. We examine the international R&D expansion activities, research capabilities, and patent output of 65 Japanese pharmaceutical firms from 1980 to 1991. We find that firms benefit from international R&D only when they possess existing research capabilities in the underlying technologies. In addition to refining our understanding of when international R&D enhances firm innovation, our results integrate asset-seeking and asset-based theories of foreign direct investment. Internationalizing R&D to tap into foreign knowledge bases is consistent with asset-seeking theories of foreign direct investment, while the contingent nature by which firms benefit from international R&D is consistent with asset-based theories of foreign direct investment and the notion of absorptive capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study links the highly distinctive national contexts of the pharmaceutical industry to the evolution of innovative capabilities for Japanese drug firms from 1975 to 1995. During these two decades, the Japanese domestic environment for pharmaceuticals changed radically, encouraging a 'bubble' of trivial innovations. Experience by Japanese firms in their domestic market predominantly determined their innovative capabilities, pushing these firms towards trivial innovation. Corporate experience in the socially 'proximate' markets of Southern Europe served as a strategic complement for significant innovation by Japanese drug firms, and thus as a partial counterweight to the home market. Unfortunately, corporate diversification was a strategic substitute for significant innovation, and many Japanese drug firms are significantly diversified. The resulting degradation of innovative capability for Japanese drug firms has locked most of them into an increasingly unattractive home market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes factors that influence firms' choice of the organizational forms of strategic alliances. I consider arguments suggested by both the contractual and the competence perspectives. In order to distinguish empirically between them, I devote special attention to the role played by the similarity of partner firms' technological specialization. In the empirical section I consider a sample composed of 271 equity joint ventures, non-equity bilateral and unilateral agreements established between each other in the period 1983-86 by 67 North American, European, and Japanese enterprises from the world's largest firms in information technology industries. I examine the effects on the choicer of alliance form of a measure of firms' technological proximity based on patents count, while controlling for other variables that are usually considered in the empirical literature. The estimate of binomial and multinomial logit models support the competence-based argument that in technological alliances divergence in partners' technological specialization results in a higher propensity to use equity forms. Overall, the findings suggest that both the contractual and competence perspectives provide valuable complementary insights into the determinants of alliance form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors find support for the role of experiential learning in the international expansion process by extending the stages model of internationalization to incorporate a sophisticated consideration of temporal and cross-national variation in the credibility of the policy environment. Using a sample of 3857 international expansions of 665 Japanese manufacturing firms, the authors build on the concepts of uncertainty and experiential learning, to show that firms that had gathered relevant types of international experience were less sensitive to the deterring effect of uncertain policy environments on investment. One implication of their results is that research on international strategy should emphasize understanding the political institutions that constrain or enable political actors, just as entry mode research has done. A second implication is that research in the stages model of internationalization should give the same weight to the policy environment as a source of uncertainty to a firm, as it has given to cultural, social, and market institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study sources of operational performance improvement in supplier partnerships. We argue that supplier performance will benefit most where time-bound relational assets have developed between a buyer and supplier and the firms exploit the resulting communication efficiency by transferring productive knowledge. We examine the effects of two forms of knowledge exchange together with the prior duration of the buyer-supplier relationship. We find similar interaction patterns in two survey samples of Japanese and U.S. automotive suppliers. The effect of ordinary technical exchanges on supplier performance improvement does not vary with relationship duration. The effect of higher-level technology transfer, however, grows more positive as relationship duration increases. Other results show relevant contrasts consistent with heterogeneous sourcing behavior between the two countries. The findings highlight the role of relational assets and show that it is important to distinguish between simple techniques and higher-level technological capabilities when studying interfirm relationships. This research extends the literatures on knowledge transfer, buyer-supplier partnerships, and the performance dynamics of interfirm and intrafirm relationships in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops hypotheses concerning the role of entry mode and experience-based organizational learning as determinants of the R&D intensity of foreign affiliates and tests these hypotheses on a sample of 420 Japanese manufacturing affiliates abroad. Entry mode has a major impact on R&D activities: the R&D intensities of acquired affiliates substantially exceed those in wholly owned greenfield affiliates, while the R&D intensities of minority owned ventures are higher if Japanese parent firms lack strong R&D capabilities at home. For greenfield operations, support is found for an incremental growth pattern of foreign R&D as a function of organizational learning and affiliate capability building. The results are consistent with the view that part of the explanation for Japanese firms' relative lack of involvement in overseas R&D must be sought in their status as 'latecomers' in the establishment of overseas manufacturing networks. At the same time, a number of Japanese firms have actively used foreign acquisitions and joint ventures to gain access to overseas technology and to establish overseas R&D capabilities at a faster pace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses cointegration analysis to study the competitive interaction among firms within the integrated and minimill groups in the Japanese steel industry. The use of cointegration analysis overcomes some of the limitations associated with prior attempts at modeling firm behavior within groups, and allows us to model strategies that take considerable time to adjust. Results indicate that several strategies displayed slow adjustment characteristics. All of the strategies that displayed these properties were cointegrated within the group. Finally, over the long run, the rate of strategic response to 'shocks' in the system varied across members and strategies: some converged, while others diverged from the group relationship. We conclude by discussing the relevance of our findings to research on strategic groups and competitive dynamics among firms. Thus the paper contributes to the literature on strategic groups and competitive dynamics, and illustrates the use of cointegration analysis to study the competitive behavior of firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates economic and strategic inducements of R&D cooperation. We focus on industry and company factors that affect a firm's rate of participation in R&D consortia. These factors are analyzed in a dynamic context using a sample of 312 Japanese firms in 74 industries between 1969 and 1992. We find a firm in an industry with weak competition and appropriability conditions has a higher rate of consortia participation. A firm's R&D capabilities, network formation through past consortia, encounter with other firms in product markets, age, and past participation in large-scale consortia also positively affect its tendency of consortia formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In slightly over two years, NTT DoCoMo, Japan's leading wireless telecommunications network provider, has been able to win over 30,000,000 subscribers to i-mode, its mobile Internet service. I-mode represents the first successful implementation of the convergence of the Internet and mobile telephony into a new industry. This article examines the origins of i-mode's success, both in terms of NTT DoCoMo's technological strategy and business model and why Japan has proven such a fruitful environment for mobile Internet. It also explores whether i-mode's success provides a global first-mover advantage to NTT DoCoMo's plans to employ strategic partnerships to spread the i-mode standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most foreign direct investment (FDI) theories assume that foreign subsidiaries are at a disadvantage relative to domestic firms; that is, they suffer a liability of foreignness. Following this reasoning, most FDI research has focused on advantages foreign investors must possess to overcome whatever disadvantages they face. Research directly investigating the sources of foreign subsidiary disadvantages has been notably lacking, despite the fact that understanding disadvantages could uncover ways to reduce exposure to these liabilities of foreignness and improve management of FDL This study focuses on whether labor lawsuit judgments represent a liability for foreign subsidiaries operating in the United States (U. S.). Specifically, I tested whether 486 British, German, and Japanese subsidiaries operating in the U.S. had more labor lawsuits brought to judgment than a matched sample of U.S.-owned firms. Results indicate that foreign subsidiaries faced significantly more labor lawsuit judgments in both federal and state jurisdictions. I also investigated several variables hypothesized to be associated with a reduction in labor lawsuit judgments facing foreign subsidiaries. Foreign subsidiaries who used American top officers or whose parent firms had more U.S. operations faced fewer lawsuits, while foreign subsidiaries using human resource professionals actually faced more labor lawsuit judgments. Implications of these findings and avenues for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how investments in capabilities offer platforms for the upgrading or downgrading of overseas subsidiaries' activities along a 'technology ladder' in response to macroeconomic changes. By analyzing panel data on Japanese electronic firms in East Asia from 1988 to 1994, the empirical results confirm the importance of capabilities at host country, parent company, and local subsidiary levels in sequential foreign investment decisions. The results show that subsidiary capabilities offset macroeconomic factors influencing location decisions of multinational corporations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two economic theories that have had an immense impact on modern strategic management research are Porter's strategic positioning framework (SPF) and Williamson's transaction cost economics (TCE). While both theories have contributed to our understanding of strategic management and to the choice of strategy and structure, each theory offers managerial prescriptions that are incomplete at best. We contend that if followed in isolation, each theory can lead to inferior performance. This paper, which studies the international courier and small package (IC&SP) services in Japan, improves upon prescriptions from both theories by linking Porter's and Williamson's approaches. Our main proposition is contained in three relationships that predict a fit among three strategic choices: market position, resource profile, and organizational structure. We test our predictions with a three-stage, reduced-form, endogenous self-selection model. While our empirical methodology is complicated and relies on a multilevel analysis, the methodology is necessary both for analyzing a constellation of activities in the vertical chain and for assessing strategy, structure, and performance when data can be drawn from only a limited number of firms. Our results suggest that a firm's market position, resource profile, and organizational choice are related in ways predicted by a positioning-economizing perspective. To be sure, our study is ambitious and suffers from a number of limitations; nevertheless, it provides one of the first attempts to theoretically and empirically link Porter's SPF and Williamson's TCE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we address criticism that performance differences among strategic groups found in past research may be spurious and attributable to firm effects. The Japanese steel industry provides the setting for the study. Our analysis is based on data from the carbon steel sector of the Japanese steel industry for the periods 1980-87 and 1988-93. A one-way ANOVA indicated that the average performance of firms in the two technology-based groups in this industry--the integrated mills and the minimills--were significantly different during the two periods. Subsequently, we performed a regression analysis to examine the residual group effect after controlling for both environment and firm-specific effects. We found that even after controlling for both environment and firm-specific effects, group membership was significantly associated with firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the mid-1980s, Japanese firms strongly challenged American dominance of the semiconductor industry. A large literature arose to suggest that, in order to survive, American firms needed to adopt the capabilities and strategies of the Japanese. Recently, American firms have indeed surged back to regain a strong position in the industry. This essay attempts to collect some of the lessons for strategy research of that American resurgence. We argue that, although some of the American response did consist in changing or augmenting capabilities, most of the renewed American success is in fact the result not of imitating superior Japanese capabilities but rather of taking good advantage of a set of capabilities developed in the earlier heyday of American dominance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pursuing a nodal (i.e., subsidiary) level of analysis, this paper advances and tests an overarching theoretical framework pertaining to intracorporate knowledge transfers within multinational corporations (MNCs). We predicted that (i) knowledge outflows from a subsidiary would be positively associated with value of the subsidiary `s knowledge stock, its motivational disposition to share knowledge, and the richness of transmission channels; and (ii) knowledge inflows into a subsidiary would be positively associated with richness of transmission channels, motivational disposition to acquire knowledge, and the capacity to absorb the incoming knowledge. These predictions were tested empirically with data from 374 subsidiaries within 75 MNCs headquartered in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Except for our predictions regarding the impact of source unit's motivational disposition on knowledge outflows, the data provide either full or partial support to all of the other elements of our theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we develop and test a model of diversification mode choice (how firms decide between acquisitions and greenfield start-up ventures) which includes institutional, cultural, and transaction cost variables. Using a sample of Japanese firms entering western Europe, our results show the model correctly predicts over eighty-seven percent of the mode choices. Thus, we provide strong initial evidence to support using institutional, cultural and transaction cost variables to predict firms' choices between acquisitions and greenfield start-ups in international expansion. Our findings also suggest that organizations which have developed strong intangible capabilities may be able to more readily leverage these capabilities through greenfield start- ups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship of performance with product and international diversification on Japanese multinational firms from 1977 to 1993. We show the relationships between diversification and performance change over time through the use of multiple time periods and accounting for keiretsu membership. Results show that while diversity strategies vary between keiretsu and non-keiretsu firms, performance is not much different. Across time periods, performance varies considerably, but strategies are less variable. Product diversity has weak effects on firm performance only in one time period while international diversification has negative profitability and positive growth consequences in in some periods. These results suggest first that diversification strategies and their effects on performance vary across time periods and generally produce some unexpected findings. We do not find strong interactive diversity effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study of the Japanese perspective on brand reality draws on personal interviews in Japanese organizations and published writings on branding in Japan. It first details the various factors which make brand reality such a natural and powerful element of the successful Japanese organizations. The study then discusses how brand reality is created by Japanese firms. It ends with the current efforts of the Japanese organizations to manage and control their future brand identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explains one way the home country institutional environment causes strategy differences across firms from different countries. It contrasts the investment conduct of American, German, and Japanese firms in the 10 largest manufacturing industries. We find profound national differences among these firms that are stable across industries. These differing conducts are tied to the institutional environments of the home market. The shareholder firms of the United States make investments primarily in response to expected investment returns, measured by Tobin's Q ratio. The coalitional firms of Germany and Japan make investments primarily in response to the availability of internal finance, measured by operating cash flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study extends research on the geographic scope, product diversification, and performance relationship by exploring both the antecedents and consequences of geographic scope. In so doing, it addresses a fundamental criticism of the geographic scope--performance relationship; namely, that the observed positive relationship between geographic scope and performance is spurious because it is the possession of proprietary assets that is the foundation of superior performance, not expansion into international markets per se. We tested the research model with data on the corporate performance of 399 Japanese manufacturing firms. In the partial least squares analyses used to examine the study's six main hypotheses, we demonstrate that geographic scope was positively associated with firm profitability, even when the competing effect of proprietary assets on firm performance was considered. Further, we find that performance was not related to the extent of product diversification, although investment levels in rent-generating, proprietary assets were related to the extent of product diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a conceptual and analytical framework for assessing metric equivalence in cross-national strategy research. We illustrate this framework by testing the equivalence of measurement models for a set of strategy constructs across the United States and Japan. Results of a two-group LISREL analysis conducted on a data set of 447 interorganizational relationships reveal that some constructs have strong cross-national equivalence, while others need content respecification or reconceptualization. We discuss implications and offer suggestions about how to conduct empirical strategy research in cross-national settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign investors and their domestic joint venture partners must find ways to share the benefits of the venture if both sides are to be satisfied. Some work in the literature on joint ventures has asserted that there is a danger in all joint ventures, and especially joint ventures with Japanese, that one side will exploit the venture for its own gain, using it as a Trojan Horse. To test this assertion, we build a full data set of Japanese firms with joint ventures in the United States and track the ventures over time. Our data show that the Japanese partners do not take actions consistent with the Trojan Horse hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Japanese credit associations are non-profit cooperative financial institutions, they assume the same financial functions as regional banks that are stock companies and they could compete with each other in a regional market. On the other hand, the governance structures of credit associations tend to exhibit weaker discipline than those of regional banks, and, for this reason, the financial performances of credit associations and regional banks might differ. In this article, we empirically investigated whether the objective functions of credit associations are different from those of regional banks considering their different governance structures. As a result, although significant differences of profitability of these two types of institutions were not detected, it was demonstrated that credit associations can capture a greater share of deposits than regional banks and the former are more conservative in risk taking than the latter. From these, there is a possibility that Japanese credit associations have different objective functions from regional banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although mainstream globalization literature has attempted to provide an empirical proof of the rise of transnational business elites using several indicators, it is still not clear how to pinpoint transnationality and to establish whether globalization has led to the erosion of nation‐state boundaries through worldwide mobility and networks, as globalization theorists argue. Using empirical data on career paths and mobility over three decades in Japan – compared with other East Asia economies and India – we examine the shift in career mobility. First, we maintain that a comprehensive understanding of social, political and cultural dimensions need to be considered in a discussion of transnationality. Second, we suggest that the globalizing economy does not necessarily lead to the weakening of the nation‐state territory and its institutions in all sociocultural and political dimensions. In particular, transnationality in career mobility in Asian economies is not greatly evident. We propose instead that a new career pattern, which we call brain circulation, highlighting the importance of international experience, has emerged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1980s, human rights litigation has spread around the world. I propose an analytical framework by which to interpret the multiple motivations and results of human rights litigation. By examining a recent spate of lawsuits brought by victims of World War II against Japan and Japanese corporations, this Article illuminates the contributions - and limits - of human rights litigation. Even when plaintiffs "lose," as they usually do, the judicial opinion itself often serves several non-pecuniary purposes. First, the lawsuits serve a truth function, helping to establish facts about the war that are still contested at the present moment. Second, the lawsuits hold out the possibility of advancing the rule of law. Given the serious violations of human rights that took place during the war, judicial opinions reassert the primacy of law by clearly stating why certain conduct is illegal. Third, human rights litigation can also establish violations of international law, and thus contribute to the development of international legal norms. This framework, which I call a discursive justice model, has implications for understanding human rights litigation in the United States and other parts of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I examine the structure of corporate ownership in a sample of Japanese firms in the mid 1980s. Ownership is highly concentrated in Japan, with financial institutions by far the most important large shareholders. Ownership concentration in independent Japanese firms is positively related to the returns from exerting greater control over management. This is not the case in firms that are members of corporate groups (keiretsu). Ownership concentration and the accounting profit rate in both independent and keiretsu firms are unrelated. The results are consistent with the notion that there exist two distinct corporate governance systems in Japan—one among independent firms and the other among firms that are members of keiretsu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing volatility of industrial business cycles is forcing Japanese companies to institute a variety of human resource management methods which are eroding the principle of permanent employment. The transition from permanent employment to more flexible employment practices reviewed here is an example of how human resources can be managed to maximize a firm's competitiveness and effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offshore dollar-denominated equity-linked issues were a more important source of funds for Japanese companies during the 1980s than domestic equity and straight debt issues combined. Using a sample of Japanese equity-linked offshore issues from 1977 to 1989, we find that the announcement of these issues is accompanied by a significant positive abnormal return. This contrasts with evidence that U.S. equity-linked issues have a significant negative stock price reaction. We provide an explanation for the difference in stock price reactions between U.S. and Japanese issues that is based on the greater influence on managers' security issue decisions of long-term investors and banks in Japan than in the U.S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a list of sources for information on Japanese companies, including the Japanese Development Bank, Japan Securities Research Institute, and annual reports.

Trust is a critical component of interfirm relations, and scholars have pointed to Japan as an environment where trusting business relationships flourish. Rather than viewing trust as an inherent and driving force in Japanese interfirm relations, we propose that a combination of institutional and societal sanctioning mechanisms is largely responsible for the apparently trust-induced cooperation there. Our examination of buyer-supplier relations in the Japanese auto industry demonstrates the important role of these sanctions. We recommend focusing on sanctions in further explorations of interfirm trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The convergence/divergence debate, which has been a central theme in the English language literature on the Japanese enterprise and its management, is summarized. Evidence for and against convergence between Japanese and Western organizations is reviewed during specific historical periods, and the adequacy of competing models that explain differences between managerial practices in Japanese and Western enterprises is examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.

The article discusses Japanese investment in the U.S. in the 1990's. Proponents argue that Japanese investments can help strengthen the U.S. economy and the dangers attributed to it are mostly exaggerated. Critics note that the behavior of Japanese corporations is genuinely different from that of other foreign investors. They say complete convergence with the Anglo-American corporate model is unlikely. The impact of Japanese investment differs across sectors. It has been most beneficial in mature, heavy industries. The overall type and effect of Japanese investment is dependent on the measures taken to strengthen the U.S. economic base.

The article discusses issues affecting American companies who try to adapt themselves to the Japanese market. Differences in business ethics between Japan and the U.S. are examined. The author looks at two sets of issues regarding the problem of when and how to adapt to different ethical standards: those faced by Americans doing business in Japan and those encountered by Japanese working with Americans. The Japanese expression "Elite Course," which focuses less on certain individuals than it does on a type of group member and a method of doing things, is discussed. Employee loyalty and commitment is compared between Japanese and American employees.

The article discusses possible reasons as to why Japan has been unsuccessful in pharmaceutical exporting. Japan is the second largest single country market for pharmaceutical products globally but is one of the lowest exporters among the major producer countries. Analysts say the Japanese pharmaceutical industry does not fit the conventional image of Japanese firms as export-oriented. The industry has been domestically oriented. Japan's health policies have served as implicit industrial promotional tools for pharmaceuticals. Industrial policy on patents and capital liberalization restrict foreign competition within Japan and thereby direct the benefits of the domestic market primarily to domestic firms.