Digital transformation (DX) has been regarded as a very important issue for the last few years for the industry and academia. Also, in the COVID-19 pandemic, companies have an urgent need to review the supply chain, which is the basis of DX. This is because the business environment for customers and supplies changes rapidly. Companies are looking for DX strategies, ways to proceed, and methods and tools in a chaotic world. Digital Capabilities Model (DCM) for supply networks is an effective tool to answer these needs. DCM is groundbreaking in diagnosing a company's DX maturity from a process perspective and leading to innovation, therefore attracting the attention of academicians and industry players. It is made up of six DCM Level-1 capabilities and 38 Level-2 capabilities constructed on these six Level-1 capabilities. However, there is a lack in theoretical and comprehensive reviews on practical implementation in business. This paper is one of the first academic literature reviews on DCM for supply networks. It is found that DCM is closer to a workable model than other DX maturity models because it steps into the process. By utilizing DCM, a simple and precise method for diagnosis and for discovering measures to improve the level, has been developed. Moreover, this study identifies that smart operations are an important capability in Japan.

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This study compares the strategies to drive innovation used by Japanese and U.S. companies. Using a neural network for the analysis of company documents, we first choose keywords such as “innovation” and “strategy.” Among Japanese companies, “co-creation” is used in conjunction with “innovation” and “sustainable” with “strategy.” Among U.S. companies, we find similarities between “integration” and “innovation” as well as “concentration” and “strategy.” Sentence analysis reveals that Japanese companies are pushing forward with the provision of optimal solutions and the development of advanced technologies. These companies show a “willingness to invest in technology, R&D, capital expenditures, and in cost reduction efforts,” as well as an interest in “partnerships, alliances, and mergers and acquisitions.” Both improvements to technology and co-creation are declared to be priorities. A similar analysis of U.S. companies shows a need to “provide business by integrating hardware, software, online services, digital content, and applications with other business units” and “providing integrated services.” Further, these companies show high concerns for the concentration of suppliers, customers, and R&D-supporting facilities in certain parts of the country, such as in the case of Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, which integrate services and data to improve added value. We also find that U.S. companies highly prioritize risk management.

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In a two-echelon supply chain, a manufacturer produces a green product and sells it to two competing retailers—one physical store and one online shop. Herein, we consider two factors affecting the green level of a product: the green level produced by the manufacturer and the green-marketing effort of the two retailers. The government levies a tax or offers a subsidy on the final retail price depending on the green level of the product. Using the Stackelberg game, we investigated the factors of competition between the retailers, financial intervention from the government, and consumer surplus affecting the pricing of a green product and the green-marketing effort-level decisions by the supply chain members. The results indicated that consumer surplus is influenced by green decisions and government subsidies increase the profits of the two types of stores.

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This study proposes a two-step algorithm for demand forecasting of bento menus. The first step of algorithm involves quantifying the popularity of a product using a Bayesian estimation-based rating system. In the second step, demand forecasting is performed using machine learning that considers the quantified popularity of products from the first step. Daily sales forecasting is a constant challenge for bento delivery service companies. Many companies offer both bento menus, in which the same products are sold cyclically, and bento menus, in which a different product is sold each day. In many cases, forecasters perform predictions manually based on their experience. Demand forecasting with high accuracy is not easy because it is difficult to quantify the popularity of bento menu products. To demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed algorithm, numerical experiments were conducted using actual data provided by a bento delivery service company. The forecasting by the proposed algorithm was more accurate than that by the previous model. In addition, the proposed algorithm exhibited higher accuracy than the forecaster's predictions for several evaluation indicators.

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This study investigated the motivations of employees to use shadow clouds, which are not approved in the workplace, and the behavioral factors of employees depending on the size of the firm and industry, based on the theory of reasoned action. In the analysis, the behavioral factors were identified by PLS-SEM, and then the differences between groups were analyzed by multi group analysis. The results showed attitude influenced the intention to use shadow clouds more than subjective norm in small medium enterprises than in large enterprises.On the other hand, there was no significant difference in the behavior of employees between manufacturing and service industries.

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In an omnichannel approach, customers can participate in various shopping experiences since online and offline channels are seamlessly connected via modern information and communication technology. An omnichannel shopping experience comprises the buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPS) service, in which a customer orders a product online and picks it up in a physical store; and the home-delivery. (HD) option, in which the customer examines and purchases a product and then requests for delivery directly to an address of their choice. This study examines how providing BOPS and HD services can increase the profitability of online and offline retailers that offer omnichannel disbursement. In addition to a decentralized supply chain, we examine whether supply chain contracts between the two channels can enhance system performance with model formulation and numerical experiments. We discovered that omnichannel adoption is not always desirable, and revenue-sharing ratios affect the decentralized channel’s performance.

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In our previous paper [1], we discussed the importance of visualizing the “intent” information of planners and designers from the perspective of process design, considering our entire business as a support measure to accurately grasp the actual conditions of the products, services, and site. The concept of Himozuke (strong association between the two elements and supporting factors for the association) was presented as a means to visualize “intent” information and the “Design Map” method was used as a common platform for sharing the actual situation of products, services, and site of the company's business between the management and site levels. In addition, a case study showed that this concept and method can be utilized in the period from product development to launch using concrete products as examples. We also examined the utilization of the aforementioned concept and method by going back to upstream development, that is, the fuzzy front-end (FFE) model, in which the direction of development is determined in a crowded situation; it also shows a case in which the gap of “intent” information between the management level, which determines the direction of development, and the site level, which produces products, caused the improvement of core competence in the business to stagnate. In other words, the explicit knowledge transformation of “intent” information at both levels is important for the development of the business, and the proposed method is effective. Finally, we also proposed the “extended FFE model” to consider cooperation with the external environment such as production facilities when the reform of manufacturing is accelerating and examined the diversity of this model from the perspective of inter-organizational relations.

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Leader development should focus on constructing a leader's identity, which influences their goals and knowledge. Nevertheless, leader development research has so far generally failed to identify the processes that contribute to identity transformation. The Leader Identity Work Engagement Canvas (LIWEDC) was developed as a method of leader identity development incorporating work engagement to address this issue, but its effectiveness has not been validated. This study aimed to examine how the LIWEDC facilitates leader identity development. As leader development is dynamic, intra-individual research studies based on repeated measures have the potential to deepen our understanding of the leader development process. To date, however, only a few experiments have followed the intra-individual leader development process. Therefore, in this case study, we investigated the effectiveness of the LIWEDC and changes in participants' leadership through repeated measures. Participants (N=42) were in their early 20s and worked at a growing Japanese company. Four repeated measures were applied over a six-month period, and participants completed pre- and post-administration questionnaires. The data were validated by qualitative analysis using grounded theory. The results indicated that implementing the LIWEDC helped some but not all participants interrelate work engagement and leader identity items. Furthermore, repeated-measures results suggest that participants were to some degree likely to shift their focus on leader identity. Furthermore, repeated measures results suggest that participants were likely to shift their focus on leader identity.

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Japan has spent about 60 years researching the Precast Concrete Method (PCa method). Since Japan is an earthquake-prone country, the Rahmen Precast Concrete Method (R-PCa method) is the predominant method in construction projects. On the other hand, China also started researching the PCa method simultaneously with Japan, but this research was interrupted by the Tangshan earthquake in 1976. In addition, earthquakes are rare in most parts of China, and therefore, the primary method used in construction projects is the Wall Precast Concrete Method (W-PCa method). The article explains the current state of the PCa method in Japan and China. The PCa utilization rate of the W-PCa method between Japan and China was defined using modeling buildings.

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In Japanese tutoring school industry, the share of private-tutorial schools, which can meet a wide range of student needs, is increasing compared to traditional group-type tutoring schools. However, the future trend of declining birthrates, the private-tutoring schools need to take measures to ensure future business growth.

For business growth, that is, continuous sales and profit expansion, one of the effective strategies is utilizing low-cost part-time teachers who can be hired easily due to the large number of candidates. However, the variabilities in experience and skills of part-time teachers generally cause low quality and low efficiency in class operations. Therefore, improvement in quality and efficiency in class operations by part-time teachers tend to become challenge for the strategy.

In this paper, we investigated the class operations in a private-tutoring school and extracted problems related to quality and efficiency. As a result, it was found that many of the extracted problems were caused by human error related to experience and skills of part-time teachers. To reduce the human error, we have developed a standard process for class operations of teachers.

The developed standard process was evaluated for one month by six part-time teachers at the privatetutoring school. The class operations were compared these with before the introduction of the standard process. As a result, the ratio of human errors in problems occurred in class operations improved by17 points. The results indicate that an introduction of the developed standard process leads to reduction of human error in class operations in private-tutorial schools.

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India has strong pharmaceutical industry, which is unusual for a developing country. According to the IBEF, India ranks 3rd worldwide for pharmaceutical production by volume and 14th by value. Due to the WTO's TRIPS, India reintroduced product patents in the pharmaceutical field in 2005. Foreseeing the introduction of product patents in India, large pharmaceutical companies started NCE development around 2000. According to one previous study, Indian pharmaceutical firms had more than 200 molecules in the pipeline by 2015. However, so far, only a fraction of this has been launched. In contrast, the Japanese pharmaceutical industry has been developing rapidly since the country introduced product patents in 1976. This study explores the cause of this striking difference between Japan and India. Using a commercial database, it examines the patent filing activities of India and Japan. As a reference, an analysis on the U.S. was added to this study. The results of this study will help other developing countries to work out the pharmaceutical industry's strategies and tactics.

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Sustainability concerns are becoming increasingly crucial for the growth of enterprises as environmental impact increases. Sustainable supply chains (SCs) can minimize resource waste, strengthen environmental protection responsibilities, enhance company reputation, and boost demand. This study examines the influence of cost-sharing (CS) and revenue-sharing (RS) contracts on SC profits, considering manufacturers and retailers making sustainable investments. Assuming consumer preference for sustainable products and government-imposed environmental taxes, the findings demonstrate that sustainability effectiveness enhances profits for manufacturers and retailers. Furthermore, CS contracts emerge as a more effective coordination strategy among SC participants compared to RS contracts.

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