Two data sets of worldwide field research on high performance manufacturing plants, taken before and after an interval of 10 years in the end of the 20th century, are analyzed. A contribution of intra-organizational communication activities to quality-creating performance at a manufacturer is investigated. A two-step approach is tried; a static analysis and then a trial analysis of time-dependent phenomena are performed. The first part is to reinforce the preceding static studies on the “parallel gap phenomenon” in intra-organizational communication and quality-creating performance. The second part is a trial study to analyze the time-dependent behaviors of intra-organizational communication activities and qualitycreating performance for 24 Japanese plants. Static and dynamic features are clearly observed; the quality-creating performance significantly depends on the intra-organizational communication activities at manufacturers. A good state of intra-organizational communication may lead an effective management of the quality-creating activities in organizations to achieve the high level performance.

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In order to maintain the planned production volume for potential disaster, Japanese manufacturing industry needs to develop and rebuild the global production that strengthens QCD. The keys to fulfill this need are automated facility, human skills to operate the facility (production operator), and a production system incorporated with the production data systems that activates the facility and human system subject to overseas plant conditions. Therefore, the authors have created a new system that ensures the necessity of building new production system for global production, eliminates ambiguity among the processes of production planning, production preparation, production and process control, and builds the linkage among the processes. This paper is to describe the effectiveness of the newly created systems for the above-specified objectives. Especially the highly accurate robot production system has been tested and confirmed at Toyota Motor Corporation.

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To share the risk and return between the supply chain partners is an important theme in supply chain management (SCM). There exists the extensive literature on the supply chain coordination, especially on the design of contracts that align the incentives of supply chain partners. However, few studies address the effect of risk attitude upon the coordination, and most of them are dealing with a risk-averse player within the context of a single player model. In order to coordinate supply chain, it is valuable to investigate how the risk attitudes of supply chain partners affect the supply chain relationships. In this paper, we consider the decentralized supply chain consisting of a risk-averse retailer and a manufacturer who are concerned with only their own objectives. The decentralized supply chain is facing an uncertain market demand and dealing with a single product over a single period. We show complex effects of risk aversion on the manufacturer-retailer interaction numerically. We also drive analytical results as much as possible. The risk models analyzed in this paper are the mean-variance (MV) model, the mean-standard deviation (MS) model, and the conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) model. We show that the dynamics of interaction is different depending on the risk measurement used in the analysis.

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While the importance of customer value creation has been confirmed in numerous studies in the literature, there is a lack of empirical studies on how new product development may optimize distinct types of B2B customer value. This study develops a conceptual framework considering four dimensions of B2B customer value (functional, cost, hedonic, and symbolic) and two dimensions of B2B customer orientation: needs orientation and relationship orientation. Based on data collected in 10 countries, hierarchical linear modeling is used to test hypotheses on the decomposed effects of these different B2B customer orientation approaches on the creation of each type of B2B customer value. Numerous theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed.

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The purpose of this paper is to analyze how members of the purchasing department’s Direct Supplier Relations Managers (SRMs) perceive their occupations from the perspectives of behavioral purchasing and supply management. A survey of the managers from a commercial vehicle company reported in the previously published papers showed cognitive differences between Direct SRMs and Indirect SRMs. By analyzing the data from different angles it is discussed that Direct SRMs have three distinctive components of their occupational perceptions, i.e., changing professional competencies, changing situation of suppliers, and positioning of the purchasing department within the company. In order to prove to what extent the hypothetical components are commonly held by Direct SRMs in other companies across industries, a survey was conducted for Direct SRMs in 40 companies in various industries. Factor analysis indicated that their perceptions are composed of three factors, i.e., (1) changing professional competencies of Direct SRMs, (2) situation of and relationship with suppliers, and (3) recognition of purchasing departments within the firms. Distinguished components derived from the finding of a commercial vehicle company are consonant with the three factors identified by the factor analysis of companies in various industries. Direct SRMs’ occupational perceptions are rooted to their direct exposure to dynamic changes in external environments. Deconstruction of keiretsu and a trend of globalization are discussed as driving forces for their occupational perceptions.

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