This study examined the coordination and incentive instruments for sustaining international manufacturer-supplier relationships by using a multi-case study of Vietnam’s motorcycle industry. It explored that the low level of local suppliers’ technological capabilities and local workers’ skills is the biggest problem faced by Japanese manufacturers in developing countries. These contextual characteristics may lead to high assistance burdens for Japanese manufacturers in the initial phases. This study explored the coordination and incentive instruments for sustaining international manufacturer-supplier relationships. Regarding coordination instruments, contracts, and monitoring, including quality control and rating systems, effectively create competitive pressures for suppliers’ quality-cost-delivery improvements. For incentive instruments, manufacturers’ assistance as a hostage is vital to encourage suppliers’ investments in improvements. Other incentives such as communication and reward systems, manufacturers’ efforts to improve forecast accuracy, and brand power are useful to build trust with suppliers. This study also addressed the transaction issues for manufacturers, including the problem of incentivizing new suppliers for collaborations, and suppliers’ customer diversification that may affect the manufacturers’ ability to recoup their assistance cost.

From the perspective of the business ecosystem, this paper analyzes the competitive advantage and platform strategy of Dajiang Innovation Technology Inc （DJI）, a Chinese commercial drone maker that is currently leading the global commercial drone industry. DJI was established in 2006 and developed the industry’s first core components such as drone control system. DJI released its “Phantom” in the United States in 2013 and occupied the global commercial drone market accounting for 70% in a short period of time. Its market share has maintained its superiority till present. During the inflection transition from the formation of a new ecosystem to expansion, DJI has defended and strengthened its core technology through a strong containment strategic action of competing with GoPro, therefore DJI has obtained its hub position of multiple markets with bargaining power. In addition, DJI has entered the surrounding markets of corporate market from the general consumer market, instilled its own product standards & design standards （reference design）. Furthermore, it has stimulated and revitalized coexisting companies, individual & corporate customers for expanding the ecosystem of drone industry.

In this paper, we analyze the transformation of vertical division of labor in the semiconductor industry. In the semiconductor industry, the vertical division of labor has progressed due to the emergence of a business model called foundries which specializes in contract production that could be described as “disruptive innovation” in the 1980s. Then, under the COVID-19, as the demand for semiconductors has increased and the semiconductors became in short, TSMC has attracted increasing attention as a key player in the supply of semiconductors in the world. This situation is no longer something like “suppliers from late industrialized countries grow up in the vertical division of labor governed by companies in developed countries,” as the Global Value Chain theory or the Global Production Network theory described. In the divides, the form of vertical division of labor is shifting to a new phase where the supplier holds the casting boat. This is the first aspect of the transformation of the vertical division of labor in the semiconductor industry. Moreover, developed countries such as the United States and Japan, where vertically integrated semiconductor companies once prospered, are eager to attract TSMC factories in order to incorporate semiconductor production bases into their own countries. That is, the vertical division of labor, which was in the form of “a company in a developed country consigns production to a supplier located in a low-cost late developed country,” has changed to a phenomenon in which a supplier in the late developed country has a production base in a developed country at the request of a developed country. This is the second aspect of the transformation of the vertical division of labor in the semiconductor industry.

This paper clarifies the actual situation of competition in the dairy products market in India. With the economic liberalization in India, it is said that dairy cooperatives and private dairy companies face severe competition, however in reality the competition is between dairy cooperatives.

We then conducted a comparative analysis of dairy cooperatives and found that they can be categorized into GCMMF （Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.） and KMF （Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producer’s Federation Ltd.）, which have established sales networks for national and cross-state, and COMFED （Bihar State Milk Co-operative Federation Ltd.）, which has established sales networks only within the state.

Through mergers and acquisitions （M&As）, firms can access needed external resources and capabilities. An important management issue after the acquisition is to leverage acquired resources and achieve synergies effectively. This study aims to examine the process and motivations of M&A and the integration process after the acquisitions. In this research, the motivations for conducting multiple M&As and the post-acquisition integration process were considered through a case study of a Taiwanese company that has acquired a number of companies since its founding and has grown to have a base on a global scale. This longitudinal case study contributes to the process of acquisitions and post-acquisition integration literature by understanding how multiple M&As and post-acquisition integration processes occur at each stage of a company’s growth.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the division of labor between companies in the value chain of electric vehicle batteries in China based on field surveys of Japanese and Chinese companies. In the latter half of the 2000s, the business relationship between Japanese carmakers and Japanese battery makers in the early stages of the electric vehicle industry was a “vertical division of labor” through several partnerships and joint developments covering as well battery cell as battery packs for instance. The Korean battery makers that entered this market later chose a “horizontal division of labor” without developing a strong relationship with carmakers, and by specializing only in battery cells business.

In China, where some battery makers are currently leading the global vehicle electric battery industry, the “horizontal division of labor” between carmakers and battery makers has been established by national upfront investment in the secondary battery industry. Besides, this paper presents some evidence regarding the specificities and international competitiveness of the Chinese battery makers mostly rooted in the peculiar division of labor between carmakers and battery makers when it comes to the battery pack and not only the battery cell. Based on empirical research in Japan and China, this paper intends also to discuss the observed trajectory of specialized vertical integration in China.

Purpose: This study examines the research question, “Why does the A-Tail-Wags-the-Dog phenomenon occur following the success of international joint ventures （IJVs）?” The case study considers the IJVs between Nippon Paint （NP）, a leading Japanese paint company and Wuthelam Holdings （Wuthelam）, a Singaporean entrepreneurial firm. The first IJV was established in 1962 in Singapore and later expanded throughout Southeast Asia and China.

Design/methodology/approach: The changes in the power situation between partners over 50 years are qualitatively analyzed through the “Resource Dependence Perspective” （Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978; 2003） and the subsequent effects of their ex-ante conditions.

Findings: Notably, NP, a 40%-owned minority shareholder, provided resources including manufacturing and quality-control technologies, R&D, brands and raw materials for paint exports to the IJVs. Wuthelam, a 60%-owned parent, was responsible for the management, production, marketing, sales and financing. Through these interdependent relationships, the IJVs grew to attain the No.1 market share by the early 2000s in both markets, owing to Wuthelam’s competent management. In 2006, NP initiated negotiations with Wuthelam to consolidate all IJVs, and concluded by acquiring additional 11% shares of only eight IJVs in 2014. Consequently, NP became a 51%-owned parent of these eight IJVs by allotting nearly 40% of its common stocks to Wuthelam through a stock swap scheme; making Wuthelam the controlling shareholder of NP. Subsequently, to prevent future attempts to unseat Wuthelam, as in 2017, Wuthelam exerted legitimate power to become a 60%-owned parent of NP by exchanging all the remaining shares of all IJVs that it owned for an additional 20% of NP common stocks in 2020.

Originality: The relationship between the IJV partners evolved into “A-Tail-Wags-the-Dog” rare in the history of Japanese companies.

Integration has long been mentioned and talked lightly but almost never thought profoundly within organizational theory or strategic management research. The obscure importance, ambiguous necessity and possible difficulties inhibit the motivation for theoretic research. The absence of analytic framework also frustrates the practical application intension. This study fills these academic gaps and contributes by: （1） reviewing and evaluating the historic research on general integration thoughts and strategic integration theories, （2） exhibiting the various misunderstandings and explaining the substantial significance and indispensability of integration, （3） deducing and typifying the steps and categories of integration. A 4-step method and 6-stage theory of integration are constructed. The 4-step integration method is proposed based on the integration thoughts of Follett （1924）, Graham （1991）, and Martin et al. （2017）, which consists of decomposition solution, causality solution, possibility solution, and integrated solution. The six-stage spiral-up cycle theory, which consists of separation, mixture, synthesis, assimilation, unification, integration, is aimed to solve the “innovation” and “creative destruction” themes advocated by Schumpeter （1911, 1942）. This integrated analysis paradigm explores and promotes a new and wide perspective for the organization theory and strategic research on the harmony and balance of environment, resources, and capabilities inside or outside the corporation. In the future, we will point out the possibility of applying this integrated analysis paradigm through empirical analysis.

Since the transition to civilization in 2011, Myanmar has attracted the interest of Japanese companies as the last frontier in Asia. With the inauguration of the NLD administration in 2016, it has been thought that the progress of democratization will be solid and there will be no turning back. Therefore, Japan has been working together with the public and private sectors to support Myanmar and advance into the business.

However, in the coup d’etat on February 1, 2021, things went awry. As international criticism of the armed forces that caused the coup d’etat intensified, Japanese companies continued to wait and see, exposing them to the risk of international sanctions, civil disobedience, and reputation.

Japanese companies need to be close to citizens, but they are in a difficult position between the armed forces that have become authorities and citizens.

Japanese companies did not see Myanmar’s political risks, but criticism of Myanmar has increased since the Rohingya issue became apparent in 2017. However, no concrete measures were taken because international sanctions were not yet enforced. As the criticism grows due to the coup d’etat, concrete measures are required.

After formulating a scenario in Myanmar in the future, retroactive measures are required, but in addition to dealing with old political risks, new measures for human rights issues and reputation risks are required. It suggested, the ability to manage investment risk in emerging countries is being questioned again.

In recent years, the internationalization of ASEAN companies has been accelerating. Unlike BRICs companies such as China and India, ASEAN companies are generally latecomers to internationalization and are small in scale. Vietnam’s Viettel, one of the ASEAN multinational corporations, has an internationalization strategy that targets low-income small and medium-sized countries as its main target, with particular emphasis on the poor regions of those countries. The company’s competitive advantage is its overwhelming strength in Vietnam and its “non-traditional FSAs” such as business know-how in developing countries. The case of Viettel may also be useful in considering the internationalization of other ASEAN companies that share the characteristics of latecomers and small and medium-sized enterprises.