A growing interest in the geographical dimension of innovation has been apparent in economic geography and technology studies. In the recent literature, it is assumed that geographical proximity between various actors enhances the interactive transfer of knowledge in the innovation process. Furthermore, knowledge spillovers from research activities undertaken by other firms and universities are considered to have a tendency to be localized. The aim of this paper is to review studies on the geographical approach of innovation and to offer some directions for further research. The paper is divided into three main parts: The first consists of a review of empirical and quantitative studies of technological innovation that attempt to measure innovations or knowledge spillovers by patent applications, patent citations or co-authorship of academic papers. These are not alternative but complementary to qualitative approaches such as questionnaire and interview survey. The second examines several frameworks of studies of geographical dimension of innovation, that is, sectoral innovation systems (Breschi, 2000), regional innovation systems (Braczyk, Cooke and Heidenreich, 1998), a concept of "product architecture" (Fujimoto, 2004), and "worlds of production" (Storper and Salais, 1997). It is necessary to recognize the interdependency between geographical elements (such as proximity and territory), organization (such as interfirm relations and industry-academic interactions) and the characteristics of technology (such as tacitness of knowledge, appropriability, and cumulativeness). The third appraises recent debate as to what factor facilitates innovations and creativity in regions. Spatial and socio-cultural proximity are not always important in all circumstance. It is increasingly recognized that diversity, fluidity and external connectivity of regions are important if the types of innovations are more radical. It is assumed that the degree to which each factor matters in the innovativeness of regions depends partially on the characteristics of technology.

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This paper examines how a change in strategy and activity of corporate group influences the location of its subsidiaries, in particular, in subsidiaries in the information service industry. The corporate group that this paper takes as an example is corporate group "A", which is a well known global company. It belongs to information technology (IT) industry. The group's business extends to 170 countries and employed more than 310,000 workers were employed by them in 2003. In this paper, we study "Japan A" corporation and its subsidiaries. "Japan A" was established in 1937 by corporation "A" as a local company in Japan. Establishment of its subsidiaries and affiliated companies began in 1981. However, not many subsidiaries were founded in the 1980s. With the advent of the 1990s, the profit ratio of "Japan A" began to worsen. As a result, the group founded numerous subsidiaries and affiliated companies and drastically restructured existing companies several times during the 1990s. At the end of the restructuring in the 1990s, only the adjustment to the global strategy of corporate group "A" was considered. For example, "Tohoku B", a subsidiary of "Japan A", established in 1992 at Sendai City, was merged with another subsidiary located in the Tokyo Metropolitan Areas, despite yielding consistently good business results. The long-term strategy of the corporate group was prioritized over the short-term profits and productivity of each subsidiary. As a result, "Tohoku B" has disappeared from the map of Sendai. With the recent intensification of global competition, such cases will become frequent. Moreover, with the progress of financial globalization, particularly the introduction of International Accounting Standards (IAS) in Japan, the strategies and activities of Japanese corporate group are undergoing major changes. It can be said that it has recently become more important to consider the regional changes from the perspective of business enterprises.

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After the Doi Moi (renovation) and especially in the 1990s, foreign investment triggered the economic growth in Vietnam and this economic growth led to increasing public investments. This didn't mean a mere increase in the amount of public investment but also gaining importance in the Vietnamese economy. For instance, the amount of public investment in relation to GDP rose from 5.9% in 1991 to 15.6% in 1999. These tendencies were influenced by governmental policy and the socio-economic conditions of each region. Existing study only briefly mentions that the Vietnamese government had changed the public investment policy during the 1990s. In the first half of the 1990s, the policy aimed for regional equalization of infrastructure and economic foundations, reflecting a planned economy system and a socialist economic ideology. In the latter half of the 1990s, the government approached the economic growth acceleration effectively with public investment. This public investment policy was based on the socio-economic conditions of each region. The situation of public investment, in other words, depends on those conditions of each region. In the area of public finance and development economics, there are some existing studies that try to empirically clear up the geographical distribution of public investment. But these studies uncritically accept the regional divisions based on Vietnamese statistical documents that don't reflect the geographical characters. Economic geographers have shown little interest in this topic. There is, therefore, little empirical study about the geographical character of public investment. This paper aims to analyze the local public investment in Vietnam from the viewpoints of economic geography. The first analysis is regional typing analysis; 53 provinces, before the provincial consolidation in 1996, were broken down into six types of socio-economic conditions through principal components analysis and cluster analysis. The second one is time-series analysis of local public investment by each type. The results of this analysis is as follows: Firstly, Red River Delta (type I) and Mekong Delta (type VI) were rural regions which have the two biggest cities in Vietnam, Hanoi City and Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) City. In the first half of the 1990s, the two types show a similar trend and the investment tendency remained at a lower level. But the investment for type VI, which weren't in a good condition concerning the lifeline infrastructures, have risen remarkably in the latter half of the 1990s. Secondly, the governmental policy, as is widely alleged, tends to treat minority regions very well. But this tendency differs from that of local public investment. In the first half of the 1990s, type II of minority regions and not good general infrastructure remained at a high level, but changed to a low level in the latter half of the 1990s. In contrast, public investment into type IV dramatically increased in the latter half of the 1990s. Type IV is a specific type, which includes the Khanh Hoa Province and the Thua Thien-Hue Province that have the famous tourist spots, the Quang Nam-Da Nang Province that has the biggest city in central Vietnam and the Quang Ninh Provinces that have the world-famous Hon Gai Coal Field. This type, therefore, differs from the general character of rural Vietnam. In conclusion, this paper pointed out the two contrasting geographical characters of public investment in rural Vietnam. One is the priority distribution of public investment funds to backward regions relating their various infrastructures; the other is the priority distribution to important regions in order to produce economic growth in Vietnam. The policy aim of public investment has wavered between these characters.

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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role played by bus transportation as a public service, and clarify the regional differences relating to provision of this service together with the reasons for this. To analyze bus services operated by local authorities, bus services in the Osaka and Kyoto municipalities and four prefectures in the Kansai Region were examined as to time when services were introduced, fares and types of operation, and the following became clear. (1) Local authorities which started bus services prior to 1995 or after 2000 are mainly located on the outskirts of the Kansai Region, on the edges of urban areas and in their outlying districts, and mostly used replacement of abolished buses. (2) Local authorities which started bus services in recent years are mainly located in metropolitan area and on the outskirts of the Kansai region, and mostly use community buses. This is due to the fact that private bus companies gradually withdrew unprofitable routes from the local authorities in outskirts of the Kansai Region, to the fact that more routes were scrapped by local authorities in the same area due to the abolition of bus supply and demand regulations, to precedents set by neighboring local authorities, and to the success of community buses. The difference in the two types is largely reflected in fare systems, the number of buses running and service times. "Replacement of abolished" buses have the essential aim of providing a service of the same order as that on previous bus routes. Therefore, service standards did not change very much. "Community" buses have the aim of improving accessibility to areas where there were formerly no bus routes. It means that the services provided were equivalent to or better than those on existing bus routes. Regarding operational know-how, local authorities do not put so much emphasis on cost and are swayed more by the precedents of neighboring local authorities. National and prefectural assistance measures have also largely influenced bus services provided by local authorities. From these, above mentioned situation of (1) only means to maintain existing bus routes, and to "maintain" accessibility. Same as (1), the fact of (2) shows to eliminate areas with no transport, and to "improve" accessibility.

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