In this article, as a part of the global warming problem, we consider measures to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) generated by automotive driving. We will pay a special attention to the possibility of rapid diffusion of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), which have attracted popular attention in recent years, investigating whether it can contribute to our overall purpose of reducing total CO₂ emissions, as well as its limitations. For this purpose, we apply a rough-cut estimation model of CO₂ emission from certain number of vehicles in operation with some simplified assumptions. First, for a given vehicle type, by applying the basic formula of “annual CO₂ generation amount = number of vehicles in operation × average annual distance driven per vehicle (km/vehicle-year) × average CO₂ generation amount per km (g/km),” the amount of CO₂ generated from all automobiles in operation in Japan (about 80 million units), or about 180 million tons per year, is approximated. Next, we also roughly estimated how BEVs, hybrid vehicles (HEVs), and conventional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) may contribute to the overall goal of reducing annual CO₂ emissions from the passenger cars in Japan (approximately 100 million tons from 60 million vehicles) by more than 20% (20 million tons) by 2030. Our forecast results will vary depending on the composition of the abovementioned three vehicle types in 2030, as well as their improvements in fuel efficiency, but in the 2020s, it is estimated that BEV’s contribution may be 5 to 7 million tons, HEVs 9 to 11 million tons, and ICEVs 6 to 7 million tons, by which the total reduction may reach 21 to 24 million tons. This calculation reveals that BEV’s contribution as long-term global warming countermeasures, including the period of the 2020s, is certainly significant, but BEV alone cannot not achieve our overall CO₂ reduction target. Therefore, we conclude that the “BEV only theory” (the argument that relies only on the rapid diffusion of BEVs and denies all other means), which has been active in recent years internationally, is not logically correct, and that “all-out mobilization theory” that tries to mobilize all possible measures, including BEVs, HEVs and even advanced ICEVs, is more rational for achieving our overall goal. We also discuss the misunderstandings (e.g., confusion of objectives and means, time lags between vehicle production and population share increases, unilateral production target settings not based on effective demand, and disadvantages of current BEVs themselves) and the ploy aspects of automotive industry policies of each country (e.g., Europe, the United States, and China), explaining partly why such “fallacy of the BEV only theory” occurs.

With competition in the business ecosystem gaining attention, the video game industry has become known as a typical example and appropriate subject for examining strategies in this field. However, existing researches have not yet adequately addressed the question of how platform companies gain a competitive advantage by combining multiple types of network effects. We selected four Japanese video game console platforms to compare the strength of the three types of network effects on hardware sales share among the same generation using the Instrumental Variable method. As a result, it was found that the indirect network effect of software may appear differently between which due to the variety of complementary goods and which due to the competitiveness of the complementary goods. It was also confirmed that the direct network effect of hardware works stably on all models. The recognition that these three types of network effects appear differently by the platforms will provide practical decision-making material for platform companies' strategies in promoting the development of the ecosystem.

The skill transfer activities during the relocation of a domestic mother factory are illustrated in this study using a case at Horiba, Ltd. This case concerns vapor deposition, one of the processes involved in the manufacture of interference filters. A unique characteristic here is that the operation of the vapor deposition device requires a high degree of skill and experience. In this context, we discovered that the OJT (On the Job Training) undertaken in circumstances where attention on skill transfer would normally be overlooked counterintuitively realized high efficiency of skill transfer. After a detailed analysis of the case in question, we identified the following three contributing factors: (1) the incorporation of several other OJTs, each with different characteristics; (2) the tense situation due to the relocation to the mother factory; and (3) an introspective support of the OJT program that fostered “initiative.”

Critical Management Studies (CMS) has been flourishing world-wide since the 1990s with the UK as its geographical centre. However, it is less known in Japanese academia on business administration probably due to the wide range of difficult theoretical research topics. This study conducts a systematic review of CMS literature to date to clarify what CMS is, what the term “critical” means, how it has emerged, and which field it has actively studied. We found that: 1) Originated in the research on Critical Theory, recent CMS is based on a diverse theoretical background, and adopts such various perspectives as race, environment, sexuality, and gender, and 2) major reviews on CMS share the view that CMS can be characterized by denaturalization, reflexivity, and (non) performative intent. We also found that in recent years there has been a growing research on “critical performativity”, which has evolved from the debate on the (non) performative intent.

Ashforth and Gibbs (1990) described a vicious circle in which an organization that “protesting too much” to obtain legitimacy loses its legitimacy, and defined it as “double-edge”. Then, after dividing the process used by organizations in seeking legitimacy into “substantial management” and “symbolic management,” the conditions that are likely to be double-edged were suggested based on aspects in which the process is executed and the attitude of the actor who executes the process. According to Ashforth and Gibbs (1990), “extended” or “defended” legitimacy tends to be symbolic management, where an actor becomes “clums,” “nervous” and “overacting” and protest too much; thus likely to cause a decrease in legitimacy. In other words, it is not only the choice of method that matters, but the situation in which legitimacy is required, and the actor’s attitude can change the perception of legitimacy by the constituents. The declining legitimacy by constituents is a result of a vicious circle, not necessarily a lack of legitimacy.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the case of the office building called “Premium Midsize Office” developed by Nomura Real Estate Co., Ltd from the point of view of its strategy formulation process. The company was the first to develop a medium-sized and high-grade office building market with one single-floor tenant. Why was the company able to enter into such a potential market? A case analysis revealed its emergent strategy formulation process.

Since the 1990s, management and organization simulation research has been conducted in Japan. This paper reviews simulation studies of Japanese management and organizations since the 1990s, including the relationships between researchers. The world trend of research is to cite only simulation results as metaphors. However, the series of studies in Japan is a different group of unique studies: (1) critically verifying existing models, (2) conducting simulations by themselves, and (3) verifying with survey data whether the simulation results actually exist. Such research opens up the possibility of simulation research.

How different ideologies and values coexist, conflict, and complement each other in a particular practice. This study explores this issue based on a theoretical framework of institutional logic and practice. By fusing different theoretical assumptions about the relationship between institutional logic and practice, this research emphases the role of the institutional logic which is involved with the design process of the practice, when explaining the meanings given to the practice. This research quantitatively examined the meanings given to Japanese credit insurance system by Japanese government and Shinkin banks. Basing on the result, this research argues that institutional logic related to the design of the practice and institutional logic related to the embedment of the practice give the practice different meanings and these meanings are incommensurable. However, this research argues that the institutional logic of the former constrains the institutional logic of the latter through the design of practice. This study builds a framework that simultaneously considers different types of institutional logic that exist in historical and broad cultural contexts.

In Lithuania, many startups, which are founded by young entrepreneurs, are doing new business actively. Especially, IT and Fintech startups have been founded increasingly, co-working spaces and share offices in incubators are filled with energy and passion of young entrepreneurs. This situation in Lithuania is supported by effective startup ecosystem based on the collaboration among government, industry and academia. This paper introduces startup ecosystem and representative startups in Lithuania.

This paper is a study that analyses the subject after establishing legitimacy. The existing research has not clarified the issues after establishing legitimacy. In order to clarify this issue, a comparative case analysis is conducted. The cases are two plating companies targeting subsidies of SMEs where legitimacy issues are particularly evident. First, we found that it is difficult to make flexible transformation of the plan after establishing legitimacy. Second, in order to overcome this difficulty, it is necessary to set a target with a wide range, and continue to search the customer need.

This paper reviews Zahra and George (2002) which is one of the representative paper concerning absorptive capacity (ACAP) research. Zahra and George proposed four dimensions of ACAP and offered a reconceptualization of this construct. Some of their propositions are substantiated in subsequent studies, while some studies have extended their work by empirical researches as explained below.

Ashforth and Anand (2003) focused on group-level collective corruption performed by multiple people in an organization and suggested a framework for its mechanism, and it is addressed “normalized corruption.” The factors leading to normalization can be divided into three categories: (1) institutionalization, (2) rationalization, and (3) socialization. The corruption that began with leadership is institutionalized by being embedded and routinized within the organization. And the act will be rationalized to reframe the concept of the people involved. Newcomers who would otherwise be aware of corruption are also coopted into socialization by the organization that conducts corruption. Therefore, it is very difficult to halt normalized corruption. Ashforth and Anand (2003) will help to reaffirm that corporate corruptions occur and persist because of the organization.

This paper defines a “manufacturing site” in a broad sense, or a “monozukuri genba” in Japanese, as a place in which value-added to is flowing, including, firms' factories, development centers, shops, service facilities and so on、and explores the possibility of establishing “genba history,” or historical analysis of each individual site's birth, growth, sustainment, decline and extinction. First, we analyze basic characteristics of genba history as an academic approach, including its time and space limitation, as well as multifaceted, emergent, and interdisciplinary natures. Next, based on our understanding that genba may have a different system of objectives from that of capitalistic profit-maximizing firms, we pay special attentions to the genba-oriented firms in Japan during the post-Cold-War period (e.g., production subsidiaries or small and medium size enterprises), many of which made continuous efforts to drastically improve productivities and generate effective demands for their own survival and stable employment——a very different behavioral pattern from that of capitalistic multinational firms which tended to try to close down high-cost domestic factories and move its production capacity to low-wage countries. This historical fact implies that it may be meaningful for us to strengthen our efforts for historical analyses on genba's struggles for survival during the post-Cold-War period when this period is gradually coming to an end in the 2010s. We also discuss behavioral patterns of the genba regarding its multifacetedness, organizational dependence/independence, capability-building and demand creation. Finally, we show some short case histories of genba-oriented firms in Japan, including both Cold-war and post-Cold-War periods.

Kimura Foundry Co., Ltd., a casting maker in Shizuoka, has succeeded in rapidly implementing a new technology, 3D printer casting method, by using the knowledge and know-how cultivated through utilizing the incumbent technology, full mold casting method. This research describes in detail the process of implementing the new technology, and presents hypotheses about the process of leveraging existing resources (knowledge, know-how, etc.) possessed by an incumbent company when it implements a new technology.