Even there are many discussions about improvement of supply and demand works in manufacturing industry, any adequate solution had not been found yet. It is similar situation in objective copier producer, and a lot of time was consumed in daily adaptive works. It is actual situation that logistics and usage management information were not utilized in supply and demand operations.

In this paper, instead of studying supply chain process or behavior, the following issues are analyzed. Those issues are how to estimate customer demand from logistics and usage management data, how to setup supply and demand model that can estimate demand in early stage of product introduction and how to design and suggest the demand estimate simulator as one of the management information system. Through above study, objective of this paper is to improve supply and demand operation.

By applying the supply and demand model to actual product, 13% reduction of inventory was confirmed. Supply and demand operation will be improved by the above demand estimate simulator, which is utilizing logistics and usage management information.

Recently, many new electronic forms of money have been developed in quick succession. The objective of this paper is to clarify the issues concerning penetration of non-contact IC type electronic money. The authors address seven hypotheses on consumers’ consciousness about electronic money and their usage intentions. The authors used a questionnaire to survey consumers. The seven hypotheses are tested by using statistical methods and a usage intention model is constructed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Our main findings are as follows: The users of electronic money appreciate its advantages, while non-users are concerned about its disadvantages such as inconvenience, security issues, and availability of facilities. The users have stronger intentions of using electronic money than the non-users. The usage intention of electronic money is influenced significantly by the convenience of using transportation facilities, security issues and facility availability. Reflecting the results of the analyses, we further discuss issues and measures for the diffusion of electronic money.

This study aimed to bring out a relationship between social capital and the knowledge creation process in business organizations. Based on the concept of “bonding social capital” and “bridging social capital” in the theory of social capital, the questionnaires were used in this study in an attempt to reveal the effects of employees’ human relationship and communication mode on each process of the SECI model. Through an Internet research company, data were gathered from 1,700 employees working in various business organizations. The analysis of data revealed the results as follows; 1) although Socialization is stimulated only by human relationships within a company, Externalization, Combination and Internalization are stimulated not only by in-house relationships but also by relationships outside of the workplace, 2) face-to-face communication has more effect on Socialization, Combination and Internalization than computer-mediated communication, while computer-mediated communication and face-to-face communication have an equivalent effect on Externalization, 3) knowledge creation is stimulated directly by general trust of employees, and also by relationships based on general trust as well.

TOC (Theory of Constraints) Thinking Process is a method of problem solving to focus on the cause–effect relationships of the problem. In TOC, although Conflict Resolution Diagram (CRD) is important for problem solving, criteria of conflict resolution are not clear and the resolution method requires a complex logical thinking process. Therefore, it is difficult to create a breakthrough using CRD. In this paper, player is defined as a decision maker that represents a person or an organization and asserts opposing preconditions of the conflict. In order to clarify the process of the conflict resolution, CRD-Model construction steps for evaluating breakthrough through quantitative measure of the gain functions are proposed. Those steps make it possible for the players to obtain a rational solution which improves their gain. This solution is a convincing solution for the both players. Effectiveness of the proposed method is examined through examples, including a case of long tail phenomena in contents business. Resolution of the conflict is obtained through the CRD-Model construction steps.

The relationship between IT outsourcing and its effectiveness has been widely discussed. Transaction Cost Economics is the dominant theory to analyze outsourcing practices. With the viewpoint of opportunistic behaviors, prior empirical studies indicate that once clients outsource IT functions, vendors can deepen mutual dependency, and subsequently raise service rates to an exorbitant level (See Hall et al.). Such kinds of lock-ins to the specific vendors threaten the clients’ long-term flexibility and cost effectiveness. Especially in Japan, where IT industry has idiosyncratic hierarchy (from large scale system integrators at the top to small software companies at the bottom), this hierarchical service chain (i.e. contractor–subcontractor relationships) strengthens the lock-ins because clients have no choice but negotiate with the small number of large providers. Under the status quo, is IT outsourcing really preferable? This paper discusses Japanese IT services industry and its hierarchical efficiency related to outsourcing practices.