Although the growth of volume-zone markets in emerging countries is significant, there are a large number of firms which have difficulty in adapting to the market dynamism. This paper takes the managerial difficulties and entry barriers when developed-country firms try to access to the developing-country markets. After examining these issues theoretically and empirically, the paper will propose five strategic conditions to make penetration strategies to emerging country markets successful; (1) resource reallocation and organizational coordination, (2) market orientation and marketing commitment, (3) product strategy and market development, (4) resource development strategy, and (5) development of new type of capabilities. These categories will create new analytical perspectives for future empirical researches in this field.

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This paper examines the limitation of the 20th Century Style Vertical Integration Strategy and Mass-Production as a "failed" model of business. Then we investigate the "Road Map" toward the 21st Century Growth Strategy and give an attempt to develop new business models. In Chapter one, we argue the reasons why vertical integrated organization failed in a "flat world", and examine the way to survive under the global competition based on ICT. In Chapter 2, we propose "Subtraction Management," because new borne business models aim the recovery of "injured" earth environment in some extent. When we design new business models, utilization of cloud-computing and the "N=1, R=G" principle (Prahalad & Krishnan 2008) are the key success factors. In Chapter 3, we argue the design cycle of business model formation. Four modules are presented: (1) Vision to contribute the earth environment (sustainability) and the "strategy" as methodology to achieve the goals. (2) In the "thin profit" circumstance, new business models should be designed to co-operate and share benefits with global partners. (3) Design the business process and the management system, original version (non-standardized, "hands-on") by in-house base is indispensable. (4) Evaluation of business performance is the necessity to evolve the focal business model. As mentioned above, we characterize the 21st Century Style Growth Strategy as "Subtraction Management," and to realize it, we present "business modeling design cycle" in a tentative way.

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In this article, we investigate a comparative advantage theory that assumes the fitness between organizational capability and product/process architecture. This will explain phenomena such as micro intra-industry trade and multinational expansion of the enterprise in the age of globalization. Thus far, a lot of Japanese firms have advanced international division of labor between Japan and China by a comparatively simple location policy, such as "Production is moved to China, and the design is retained in Japan". This policy assumes a low-wage, single-skilled worker and modular type production system in South China. However, because wages are rising in China, foreign companies that depend on low wages in Qingdao and Dongguan and so on, seem to have started withdrawing from China. Thus, multinational companies have been forced to reconsider the optimum location. In China, there are some regions where industry average retention rate is relatively high. The typical example is the Northeast China, especially Dalian. In this article, we investigated two Japanese company located in Dalian. The labor environment in Northeast China such as Dalian is suitable to the integral architecture, because of the relatively low turnover rate and the abundant supply of design engineers and so on. In this situation, Japanese companies are possible to develop different type of international division of labor. We especially investigate the fitness between accumulated organizational capability and product/process architecture and its influence upon the pattern of international division of labor. In this article, we suggest a new pattern of international division of labor between Japan and China. For example, a part of integral type design work could be done in some areas in China.

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Generally speaking, "excellent human resources" mean human resources who have high ambition and who are "work-ready". They are called the elite and easily regarded as capable human resources in a company. However, this paper argues that for Japanese manufacturing companies, "excellent human resources" do not mean those who have high ambition and who are "work-ready". This paper proposes that excellent human resources vary according to the organizational systems. Therefore excellent human resources cannot be determined universally. Following the discussions of Koike, Kagono or Fujimoto, this paper concludes that excellent human resources for Japanese manufacturing companies in Taiwan are developed inside a company rather than being human resources who have high ambition and who are "work-ready". In Japanese companies in Taiwan, people who acquired tacit knowledge which is very effective for Japanese manufacturing companies have become excellent human resources and they take a very important role in a company. Thus, Japanese manufacturing companies in Taiwan utilize human resources who have been working in the company for a long time rather than employ from the outside those who have high ambition and who are "work-ready".

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This paper seeks to contribute to the development of research on the globalization of firms by focusing its attention on high-tech venture companies entering overseas markets. In particular, the primarily purpose of the paper is to present new theory on why information and communication technology (ICT) start-up companies fail after entering a new overseas market. According to the dominant theoretical approach to the internationalization of firms, a company first establishes its competitive advantage in its home market. The typical incremental or stage-by-stage model holds that a company will then expand its competitive advantage into overseas markets. However, in recent years much attention has been devoted to the phenomenon of start-ups, which soon after they come into existence, already begin to enter overseas markets. A firm that fits this profile has been termed a "Born Global Company" (BGC). In the research on which this paper is based, a comparative case study is conducted on two ICT start-ups that both sought to enter the Japanese market. The cases are analyzed based on two perspectives, that of the market and that of the technology, with the aim of developing new theory. As a result of this analysis, we present what we call the "trap of high-tech born-global firms." Our new theory presents a mechanism that causes such firms fail in their overseas market entry. The mechanism is described as follows. The ICT start-up aggressively pursues rapid overseas expansion. The start-up then needs to change its technology-orientated approach to one that is more orientated toward the market. However, the company has difficulty making this transition, which in turn makes it difficult for the start-up to pursue a flexible technology strategy. As a result, even though the market experiences rapid changes, the high-tech born-global company remains wedded to its own technology, and its product does not succeed in the market. As a managerial implication, we can say that in order for such a company to avoid this failure, the company needs to be able to change rapidly from a technology-orientation to a market-orientation after entering an overseas market.

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This study investigates Japanese cross-border acquisitions in Europe during 1991-2003, exploring the following two questions: what is the effect of the cross-border acquisitions on the acquirers' shareholder wealth; and how do the differences in the legal systems of the host countries affect the cross-border returns. Cross-border returns may be expected to be higher if the acquirer can apply its superior competency to the foreign market and realize higher level of scale economies. Conversely, cross-border returns may be lower due to greater costs arising from the differences in culture, language, politics and accounting. The empirical results show that the 3-day CAR around the announcement was averaged at 0.33%, statistically insignificant. On average, the Japanese cross-border acquisitions in Europe fail to achieve higher benefits relative to the costs Regarding the effects of law, the empirical study shows that (1) cross-border returns are lower and negative in countries where shareholder protection is stronger, spending on auditing is higher, or administrative regulations are stricter; (2) buyout price is relatively higher in countries where shareholder protection is stronger; (3) however, higher buyout price does not result in lower returns. In fact, common law countries are associated with stronger shareholder protection, higher spending on auditing, and stiffer administrative regulations. From the empirical results, it can be argued that the negative CAR is a response to the higher costs to be incurred by these stricter rules in the wake of the acquisitions. On the other hand, CAR is higher in civil law countries where these post-acquisition costs are expected to be lower. A caution is needed when applying this study's results to other geographical areas, since this study only contains cross-border acquisitions in Europe in order to control for the noises caused by geographical variances.

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The purpose of this article is to suggest some conditions under which shipping companies perform seafarer strategy of cruise ships effectively. Since the seafarer organization of cruise ship consists of members from various countries, and seafarers who work on board have different back grounds, skills and competencies, it is the most important issue for shipping companies to manage these seafarers effectively in order to improve service quality. Then, this article discusses the theme mentioned above, in terms of case study and theoretical framework of service management. I conducted interview researches to the cruise business division of a major Japanese shipping company, its manning subsidiary in the Philippines, and major cruise ship Asuka II which is operated by the shipping company. On board Asuka II, I made interview to every service division heads of the hotel department, so that I comprehended specific characters of cruise service, and issues of seafarer strategy of cruise ship. Based on the research, this article discusses the seafarer strategy to implement service management of cruise ships effectively. First, this article defines the concept of cruise service, including specific characters of cruise ships. Second, based on the interview researches, this article discusses the case study of cruise service management, and considers the method of seafarer strategy, for example, manning, training and management on the work shop. Third, based on the case study and theoretical framework, this article suggests the conditions under which shipping companies perform seafarer strategy of cruise ships effectively in terms of adaptation of competencies to the nature of tasks, standardization of service quality.

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It is said that in the world of PC industry, the disruptive innovation 'Net book' is nearly at hand recently. In October 2007, the Taiwanese electronics maker 'ASUSTeK' announced the invention of the firebrand 'Eee PC' model. In fact, ASUSTek had created a lot of notebook personal computers which had won many worldwide design prizes in the past ten years until the idea called 'Eee PC' was manifested. It is necessary to accumulate knowledge of high-value-added product technologies before the emergence of disruptive innovation. The purpose of this paper is to explore how ASUSTek achieves the goal of high-value-added notebook personal computers based on the concepts of 'sustainable building of the product development capability' and 'the integrity of product managers'. The results of this case study showed three implications. Firstly, the cooperative relationship between the product managers and the project managers was built on the external integrity of product development. Project managers were working together to build an interface with customers through the corporation among distributors and mass retailers, the customers' claims processing and the events of after-service. Then, the product managers looked for the latest information on customers' needs by using a teacher-student relationship sustained with project managers, and integrated this information into the product concept development. The product managers could develop a product concept to match customer expectations via cooperating with project managers. Secondly, the product managers' 'integrated function' and technical staffs' 'communicative function' in the informal organization can promote the linkage of the learning activities between the product development and the production department. While internal integrity is progressing, the notebook PC makers can not only improve the internal competitiveness in lead time, quality and cost, but also offer the values of fashion, high-quality and durability to users. Thirdly, to increase the added value of the product, product manager should promote the product development system to an open platform where external technologies are collected. Moreover, concerning that external technologies are needed to create high-value-added products, the product manager should also continuously learn the method and expertise for integrating learning activities.

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A purpose of this article is to analyze the perspective of the business sales in China for the high profitability that Japanese home electronics companies maintain. After the year 2000, China adds to the importance in global business. China is becoming not only the export production base but also huge market. While the Japanese companies want to break into the domestic market, the marketing/the risk management that stood on the difference of the social system and the special commercial practices in China will become important more than before. On the basis of such a critical mind, by studying the case of Hitachi Digital Products China Co., Ltd. which is a Japanese home electronics company in the Chinese flat panel TV industry that accomplished development rapidly, the article is to highlight how to construct the own marketing channel, form the partnership with home appliance retailers and the primary occupation suppliers, perform the personnel education and training to support their business operations. Results of the article proved the importance of organizational change for marketing, the formation of the marketing network through alliances and the localization of the personnel education and training.

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