The concept of "sustainable management" is not limited to the management for environmental sustainability. It also includes the management that responds various needs of stakeholders in the global society. From this point of view, we can regard the problem of product safety is one of the most important issues in sustainable management, since in these years product safety issues become main concern for many people all over the world. This paper focuses on the question of how firms can secure product safety, and thus contribute to the sustainability of the society. Particularly, it focuses on the process of complaint management as an instrument for securing product safety. By using the case analysis of two car companies, it examines whether complaint management can be an effective instrument for this purpose, and if it cannot, what are the obstacles. It also investigates how to overcome those obstacles.

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This article makes clear what transaction advantages Japanese automobile parts manufactures have over Western manufacturers in acquiring Chinese suppliers in China that has now become the top automobile manufacturer in the world, to say in other words, what merits Chinese suppliers find in conducting transactions with Japanese manufacturers, particularly with regard to stamping dies that play a key part in production technology. The competitiveness of automobile industry in Japan owes quite a lot to cooperation of competent suppliers. On the other hand, even in China that has achieved outstanding growth, there are still few suppliers, especially die manufacturers, which are able to meet the demands from foreign manufacturers. Under such circumstances, in the case of Japanese manufacturers, Japanese manufacturers occupy from automobile manufactures to Tier1 suppliers, and in order to reduce the cost required for such process, it is indispensible to utilize Chinese suppliers as Tier2 suppliers from the viewpoint of maintaining cost competitiveness. In other words in order to obtain local press die manufactures it is necessary for Japanese manufactures to compete with Western ones. In such case, the following competitive aspects are pointed out: (1) ord er price; (2) order quantity; (3) continuity of order; (4) stability of order quantity; (5) potential for growth as an enterprise of the company placing orders; and (6) innovation in products and production technology, that is, whether any access to innovative technology through transactions will be obtained from the company receiving orders. Among such aspects, with regard to (1), Japanese manufactures are superficially inferior to Western manufacturers. However, when we see the details of (1) of Western manufactures more minutely, as order receipts are determined by market transactions and as their costs of materials are higher than those of Japanese companies, the necessary expenses are large and it cannot necessarily be said that Western manufactures have advantage over Japanese manufactures only by superficial numbers. On the other hand, Japanese manufactures that conduct organizational transactions put great importance on (3) with specific manufacturers, and therefore are good at (4), and contribute to the stability of order receipts that is the business challenge of die manufacturers. In addition, as Japanese manufacturers put great importance on (3), in their transactions, more advanced design works are consigned and technical guidance free of cost are conducted, and therefore Japanese manufactures enjoy the opportunity of (6). It can be considered that the inferiority of Japanese manufactures in (1) is due to the fact that such costs are not included. Thus, though Japanese automobile parts manufactures are superficially inferior in conducting transactions, when we see the actual state in detail, it has become clear that Japanese manufactures rather maintain superiority over Western manufactures.

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In this paper I offer a view that introducing the perspective of "co-opetition" (cooperation and competition) in the organization design of the research and development (R & D) department in the home country may bring competitive advantages to a given firm under certain circumstances. Drawing on a case study of a mobile handset company that has been exploiting a multi-layer co-opetition strategy in its R & D organization and process building, this study shows that virtual and flexible cooperation in the most time- and resource-consuming phases of the development process (i.e. building a shared platform and bug management), and competition in the remaining part of the development process, when deeply embedded within the R & D process, improve the performance of a given firm. This type of R & D strategy could be more effective, specifically when the technological and market environment of the home country are both superior and the focus of competition is on diversity, rapid, and high quality innovation. This enables the firm to develop potentially successful models when they try to expand their products into foreign countries.

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The purpose of this paper is to clarify essential differences between "outwitting", "deception" and "fraud" in global financial transactions through two case studies of lawsuits and investigations on securities fraud in structuring and marketing synthetic CDOs, and to analyze the border between business and fraud. The first case is a lawsuit on a synthetic CDO named Abacus, which was charged as security fraud by the SEC in April 2010. The CDO was structured and marketed by Goldman Sachs (GS), and Paulson (a large scale contrarian hedge fund) bought a CDS on the CDO and made a large profit from price reduction of Abacus. The SEC charged GS with security fraud for non-disclosure of vital information because GS did not provide enough information regarding the fact that Paulson was involved in the selection of securities. The second case is also an investigation into the synthetic CDO named "Dead Presidents" by Morgan Stanley (MS), into which the SEC started probing in May 2010. This CDO is also synthesized from Residential Mortgage Backed Securities, and like Abacus, those who bet on the depreciation of the subprime loan market profited from the price reduction of the CDO. The difference between these two cases is that MS was only involved in structuring, and that marketing was conducted by other financial institutions. Also those who bet for market corruption were traders of MS. Research methods include analyses of SEC complaint and articles mainly by US media. In addition to it I conducted interviews with a legal professional of regulations in structured finance and five senior professionals of five major global financial institutions in Tokyo. Through these analyses, it could be clarified that financial transactions can be described as "outwitting" but the border with "deceit" is sometimes unclear, and that existence of "intention" and "recognition" are critical elements to prove conduct to be criminal fraud. Lastly, by applying the framework of Anthony Giddens on modernity, i.e. "disembedding", "trust", and "reflexivity", the essence of such global financial transactions will be discussed.

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In this paper, it is discussed how the platform strategy works in the emerging countries such as India and China, by studying the two cases, Robert Bosch GmbH and Mitsubishi Electric Company. Six points thought to be important to the mechanism are introduced as a framework of analysis, based on the discussion about the existing papers and are examined in the cases. Those are (1) management of interface, (2) control of interdependency, (3) integration, (4) market share of the core module, (5) turnkey solution, and (6) organizations. (1) and (2) can make the platform oligopolistic and (3) contributes more value to the platform. (4) can make (1), (2) and (3) easier. Platform providers can maintain or expand their profit by all of them, even after the interface of the platform is open. When they offer their platform as turnkey solution (5) whose quality and expansionality are assured as standard by platform providers, it will be accepted rapidly and broadly in the emerging countries. And also, platform users such as local makers in the emerging countries, whose skills are yet to be progressed, can enjoy the benefit of the platform, that is, the smooth introduction of the products with cost reduction. How to organize the entities to implement the strategy (6) is also important. We concluded the six points above worked well in the two cases. Platform strategy itself is far from new, but our contribution lies in that we showed how open platform strategy are utilized globally even in the so-called "integral architecture-based industries" such as automobile and factory automation (FA), and that hardware control by software is getting so much important a factor in the industries. There are some questions left untouched such as what enables Bosch and Mitsubishi to utilize the standardization, how they govern the standardization process. The results of the platform strategies also remain to be seen. Further research is needed.

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The global standard, the key factor of globalization, affects firm's global strategies and the evolution of global economy. Based on the theories of standardization, this study creates an analytical framework for global standards and confirms the validity of it from the case study of the introduction of GSM cell phone into Chinese market. Prior studies focused on two approaches of standardization: de facto and de jure standardization. De facto standards are based on market process, while de jure standards are based on no market process. Both approaches are powerful, but not enough for creating global standards of complex products. The increase of complex products push the use of new form of standardization, consensus standardization. Consensus standardization is a hybrid approach of market and non market processes: many firms form a consortia to set a standard, but it has no juridical legislation for compulsory use of the standard and competes with other similar standards in a market. Consensus standards have become popular since the mid 1980s. However, there are little studies on the effect of consensus standardization on firm's strategic behaviors and the direction of industrial evolution. This study creates a theoretical framework to investigate the effect of consensus standardization. Since consensus standardization is a collaborative design process among strategic firms, the resulting standards divide the system into two parts: Open and closed areas. In an open area, standards are set so detailed that new firms can supply parts. Detailed standard-setting enables market entry of new entrants who do not have enough technological knowledge. Severe competition occurs here. On the other hand, closed area, the area where standards are not set so detailed, avoid new entry and incumbent firms keep their competitive advantages. Based on the framework, this study investigate the introduction of GSM cell phone into Chinese market. The case study support the theories that suggest global standards push the division of labors among multinational and local companies.

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The European Commission enacted the instructions for harmonizing the EU in 1968 and began to harmonize a management system within the area. Further, the European company law (SE law) was enacted in 2001, and the corporate system of affiliating each country to the EU was unified. This embedded similarity gave autonomy to the management system of each country affiliated to the EU. The basis of creation of the original management system was the level of the company. The European Commission completed the management system in a series of processes on the basis of diversity, which respects the freedom of the management activities of a company to the highest degree. Furthermore, while management freedom was embedded in the management system of the EU, it expected to create an organization that comprises corporate governance, social responsibility of a company, internal control, and crisis management, and if possible, a company trusted by the society, which enables sustainable development unique to the company. The integration of the management systems in the EU became a nucleus in principle and was infiltrated by the signatory from the EU and the enterprise. First, a method was developed to harmonize and standardize an existing management system at the EU level. Next, the management systems were developed such that they could be integrated with the management systems of regions at the signatory and EU levels. Finally, the management system of an original enterprise developed using corporate governance standards such as entering into an MOU during amalgamation, and corporate governance was reformed at the corporate level. Because the enterprise aimed at profit making, the management system was created assuming the competitive strength of the company, an intangible value associated with the company. In order to gain the trust of the society, the appropriate action to be taken in the case of corporate misconduct was clarified at a conference; during this conference, an MOU and the necessary terms and conditions were agreed upon by devising a system in which stakeholders can participate positively.

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Infrastructure related/system sales recently launched by the Japanese government as a part of its growth strategies is a change in business strategy from a model that solely sells parts and machineries abroad, to the one that promotes the total coordination including engineering design, construction and operations. It is well known that overseas infrastructure operations, particularly those in emerging countries are potentially risky and exposed to government interventions. Furthermore, Japanese companies have been lagging behind US and European counterparts in this field. Against this backdrop, this paper seeks and verifies key success factors (KSFs) in this business, in the medium and long term framework, based on the premise that there are necessary diplomatic supports, technical know how, price competitiveness, operational know how and global human resource management skills. First, working hypotheses for KSFs were identified by earlier literatures, reports by international organizations, and previous works and projects. This was followed by a series of hearings conducted at 11 leading companies and organizations. Then clearer hypotheses for KSFs were articulated in a questionnaire, and sent to those interviewees. An English version of the questionnaire was also sent to overseas experts with long term experiences, to identify if there is clear difference of views between Japanese responses and overseas responses. The questionnaire consists of Part 1 of absolute grading for the hypotheses, corollaries, and alternative hypotheses under consideration, and of Part 2 of comparative assessment of 12 propositions in Part 1 as well as 3 factors presupposed in the above, so that their relative importance can be reviewed. In conclusion, it was confirmed that a proper recognition of basic characteristics of this sector and the assessment of risks and development effects are significant framework for KSFs, and that risk management skills before and after the project implementation are placed in higher positions than technology, price competitiveness, and global HR management. It was also identified that Japanese companies tend to put more emphasis on local partners and stand more ready to challenge high return projects than views of overseas experts.

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This article intends to clarify the effects of uncertainty on international strategies, especially foreign market entry modes selected by multinational corporations from the perspective of real options. The choice of entry mode depends on options' value embedded in international investment. This is why we explore under what conditions a particular entry mode can bear a higher option value throughout reviewing theoretical and empirical research works as to such a topic. We compare implications derived from real options theory with ones from international business strategy theories such as internalization theory and internationalization process model to explore why they have different implications in observing and dealing with uncertainty. Finally we suggest how real options theory can complement the above traditional theories in explaining the relationships among uncertainty and entry mode choices.

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This paper aims to emphasize the importance of market choice in standardization/adaptation strategy. Therefore, it analyzed by focusing on Samsung Electronics which has been growing in mobile phone business. The following conclusions were reached: First, Samsung has adopted a standardized product and advertising in the U.S. and Europe. In emerging markets, however, has deployed an aggressive adaptation. Secondly, Samsung has transferred to other countries the marketing 4P which was developed by the local adaptation. Finally, Samsung grouped by geography and economic factors to the global market, and has adopted a similar social marketing and product-related activities in that group. These results indicate that the importance of market choice in standardization/adaptation strategy.

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This paper describes the strategies taken by Japanese manufacturing companies in response to the transitions underway in China. Japanese manufacturing companies in south China had been operating with a labor intensive production system. However, these "monozukuri" companies now face a transitional stage due to rising labor costs and the requirements of a high value-added production system. This paper reveals the current situation of eight companies and their strategies and direction of management through an analysis of interviews with management executives from eight Japanese manufacturing companies in south China. Four characteristic actions were isolated in the results of interviews. These are 1) securement and cultivation of cross-trained workers or skilled workers, 2) promotion of mechanization for a high value-added production, 3) promotion of mechanization for labor cost reductions, and 4) semimechanization and improvement of operation. The results further indicate two essential points that drive these strategic decisions. The first is whether they focus on high value-added production or reduction of labor cost. The second is the temporal amount of capital investment for the transition. These two essential points enable the classification of the four actions from the interview data.

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With Japan being an island country there are few opportunities to encounter and experience different cultures in Japan. To overcome this disadvantage for globalization, Japanese companies have recently begun encouraging their employees to learn foreign languages intensively and/or have set English as their in-house official language. However, they may be facing difficulties in keeping up with the speed of globalization in recent years. One consideration is to leverage those who return to Japan with the language skills and intercultural adaptability gained throughout their overseas experience. It will help Japanese companies accelerate their globalization and keep up with the rapid changes in recent times. Awareness of these issues was the starting point of this research paper. This research paper examines intercultural adaptability and language skills of accompanied spouses in foreign countries and evaluates their potential as "Global-Jinzai" (or Global Human Resources). The analyses of various aspects such as intercultural adaptability, language skills and working experiences shows that the accompanied spouses tend to have sufficient potential to be "Global-Jinzai". The more the spouses were actively involved in the host country, the higher their language skills and intercultural adaptability tended to be. In addition to the support from companies, recognition that the accompanied spouse has a greater possibility of being a "Global-Jinzai" after returning to Japan with the language skills and intercultural adaptability gained throughout their overseas experience, should motivate accompanied spouses to polish their language skills and intercultural adaptability by getting more involved in their stay. Japanese companies should recognize the presence of accompanied spouses of various ages, with various experiences in various overseas countries and the presence of a new group of "Diversity-Jinzai" (or Diversified Human Resources) with language skills and intercultural adaptability among them. In addition, Japanese companies promoting globalization should create working environments for "Diversity-Jinzai" to demonstrate their abilities. Making full use of "Diversity-Jinzai" with language skills and intercultural adaptability gained from overseas experiences will be a key for the globalization of Japanese companies.

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