The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of autonomous career awareness on subjective as well as objective career success. In this study, we used a dataset combining in-company micro data and a questionnaire survey for one Japanese firm. Autonomous career attitudes were measured using the Protean and Boundaryless Career Scales developed by Briscoe et al. (2006). First, different effects were identified for the same autonomous career awareness. The Protean Career subscale for Self-Directed Career Management showed a positive effect on both objective and subjective career success, while the Values-Driven subscale had a negative effect on objective career success. In addition, Boundaryless Career Mobility Preference had a positive effect on subjective career success. Reasons why Mobility Preference has no positive effect on objective career success, but a strong positive effect on subjective career success, are discussed. It is possible that the awareness of having the choice to move to another organization, without any psychological burden, increases career satisfaction. The above findings differ from those generated by studies conducted earlier on German firms and a national survey in Japan. We also examine the reasons for the variance in the findings by comparing them.

The postwar American economy in the 1950s and 1960s experienced a historic period of “sustainable growth”. The U.S. “postwar corporate system” of big business in mass-production and the related industries constituted the core of the economy. It was characterized by three main pillars: an American-style mass production system, a postwar “traditional-type” labor relations established to suit it, and a “matured oligopoly system” accompanied by a “bureaucratic” management organization. This “postwar corporate system” was a product of long-term historical developments, but most directly, the institutional and organizational transformation brought about by the wartime industrial mobilization of the World War II war economy established its basic structure with certain adaptations in the process of reconversion in the early postwar years. This paper focuses on the major aspects of the significant institutional and organizational transfiguration of the U.S. industrial relations to undergird the U.S. “postwar corporate system”, which brought about by the industrial mobilization system and war economy during World War II across all the three layers of “long-term strategy/policy formation”, “collective bargaining/personnel policy”, and “workplace/individual/organizational relations” on the basis of the historic transformation in labor relations in the 1930s.

Consumption tax which was promulgated by the Consumption Tax Law in December 1988 and then was implemented in April 1989 is an indirect tax charged on the supply of a wide variety of goods and services excluding oil, alcohol and tabacco. Consumption tax in Japan is charged at each stage of the production and distribution process and is also a value added tax (VAT) in that tax due should be borne by the final consumer of the product. VAT is a multi-stage general consumption tax which traders are required to charge on their sales and must report the output taxes charged on sales to tax authorities, but they can claim refunds from the tax authorities of the input taxes which they pay on their own purchases. In Japan, an account method has been used as the method of determining the amount of tax credit for input taxes paid on purchases on the basis of accounting books since the consumption tax was first implemented. From 1^st October 2023, the tax credit method will change to an invoice method in which output tax charged on sale is deducted from input tax paid on purchase, basing on invoices. An incvoice must be normally issued when one tax-registered trader supplies a taxable product or service to another tax-registered trader. This article compares the characteristics and the issues arising in an account method and an invoice method.

In this paper, we review the sparse studies on the internationalization of Japanese SMEs published since 2010 and attempt to demonstrate the current status of research on the internationalization of SMEs and issues arising therein. The following points emerge.

Firstly, looking at studies on the overseas expansion of SMEs, the focus of research is changing. Specifically, papers look at diverse modes of internationalization, such as (1) overseas market development, (2) non-manufacturing industries, (3) “born global” companies, and (4) cross-border e-commerce and transnational startups.

Secondly, the focus of research has changed even if we look at the papers on SMEs after overseas expansion. Specifically, (1) acquisition of new functions such as sales at overseas subsidiaries, (2) management of overseas subsidiaries such as deployment of foreign staff, and (3) highlighting of routes that have a positive impact on operations in Japan.

Although the benefits of logistics clusters in a globalizing economy are well documented in the literature and projects aimed at creating logistics clusters are under way all over the world, there has been insufficient research to afford a detailed understanding of the mechanisms that determine the success or failure of creating a logistics cluster. Policy practice has leapt ahead of theory. The paper addresses these gaps, using a systematic literature review methodology. Through systematic review and analysis of related insights from 208 peer-reviewed articles published in leading academic journals in English over the last 20 years, propositions that constitute the mechanism of logistics cluster formation takes shape.

In an age when foreign direct investment by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has become commonplace, how can SMEs transfer their organizational culture to their overseas subsidiaries, given a lack of global human resources and funds to secure and train them? Results of interviews with the surveyed companies were analysed using SCAT in order to find out not just about their human resources but also their unique organizational management as SMEs. It was found that instead of head office imposition on overseas subsidiaries, there was a mix of knowledge transfer to and initiative in the overseas subsidiaries as equal partners, generating a sense of unity. These superior characteristics of organizational culture transfer—flexibility, mobility, and agility—are difficult to achieve at the scale of a big corporation. An organizational structure in which overseas subsidiaries are regarded as a division of the head office in Japan facilitated the transfer of organizational culture. In addition, long-serving local employees of the overseas subsidiaries played a role as brokers of communities of practice in the transfer of organizational culture, maintaining and sustaining the organizational culture of overseas subsidiaries.

The purpose of this paper is to use the case of Tencent to present a hypothesis regarding the indirect approach in the management strategy of a growing company in the Chinese SNS market. In order to answer the question, “How should a company with inferior resources in the Chinese SNS market build relationships with customers in its user network?”, this paper is a case study focusing on the short-term corporate growth of Tencent, which began as a start-up company in the Chinese SNS market. We define an “indirect approach” as a company’s efforts to promote customer interaction with a group of customers, rather than with individual customers, with the aim of creating new customer relationships, and then reveal the methodology of the indirect approach. Through the indirect approach, Tencent intentionally created customer interaction to expand and enrich its user network and monetize its business. Through the analysis of behavioral and psychometric characteristics as well as evaluation by customers, Tencent continuously built up customer knowledge and development know-how within its organization, which it used to develop products that activated consumer-driven communities resistant to direct company control.

This study argues a rural development model for Japan that applies Italy’s Territorio strategy, which is seen as a real-life model of sustainable rural development. The results show that it is difficult to apply the Italian development model as is to Japan. First, although Territorio in Japan are formally delimited into administrative districts, an overlapping scope of place branding and territorial identity is loosely established by a core of trade associations and individual companies scattered throughout each administrative district. Second, trade is a catalyst for community formation. Economic activities aimed at local, nationwide and global markets through trade create place branding and territorial identity. Third, trade is led by actors from multiple sectors, including agriculture, fisheries, and related businesses in processing, manufacturing, distribution, food and beverage, and tourism, as well as their industry sector. In order to form a Japan-embedded Territorio model, it is essential to support the independent activities of diverse actors and to form networks among them. Since economic activities are crucial, providing employment opportunities for employees to enhance their work-life balance and their lives as consumers is also necessary.

In October 2022, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued the Proposed Accounting Standards Update on segment reporting. The purpose of this paper is to trace the process that led to the release of the Proposed Accounting Standards Update and to discuss the proposal. Initially, FASB has undertaken two tasks: (1) improving the aggregation criteria in segmentation and (2) improving the disclosures. In the end, (1) was removed from the agenda because it is difficult to improve the aggregation criteria in a cost-effective manner. Meanwhile, with respect to (2), the proposal is to add the disclosure of significant expense items that are regularly provided to the chief operating decision maker (CODM) and included in segment income. The introduction of the significant expense principle is expected to clarify corporate strategy, including R&D and human resource investment. However, some FASB members are skeptical of the effectiveness of this principle. Since the U.S. has led the formation of segment accounting standards to date, we should pay attention to the upcoming deliberations.

This paper focuses on Hokkaido Kouseisha, a drycleaning business established in 1956 to help people with disabilities become self-reliant. As such, it was founded at the dawn of the “social enterprise” and “social business” concepts with the mission of providing a place to work for people with disabilities. Established as an association of people with disabilities, Hokkaido Kouseisha was a pioneer of WISE in Japan. Today, it is a hybrid organization consisting of a non-profit social welfare corporation and a for-profit corporation called the Kouseisha Group and has grown to become one of the leading drycleaning companies in Hokkaido. How did Hokkaido Kouseisha come about and how did it grow? We analyzed its efforts chronologically, focusing on the process of its founding and the first 10 years, taking into account the historical background. It became clear that Hokkaido Kouseisha transformed into a hybrid organization as a result of choosing the optimal solution in the process of building an organization to explore and develop its business. In addition, while various stakeholders were involved in Hokkaido Kouseisha, it is likely that it had a strong relationship with the public sector. In the initiatives of this organization, we can trace the origins of social business in Japan.