In B2B business, in case that a manufacturer develops a product to solve a customer's problem, it is necessary for the manufacturer to accurately grasp the customer's requirements. In this research, we focus on the business of robot system integrators (hereinafter “robot SIers”), and from questionnaires and interviews targeting those companies, we found that not only the knowledge about the products of both the customer and the manufacturer, but also the degree of understanding of the product and the difference in the technical information possessed by both companies are issues in product development. In addition, we investigated the characteristics and causes of difficulties for robot SIer companies to respond to customers, such as the fact that the level of information and expertise that customers can provide, affects the sales and business progress of robot SIers. Then, we presented a countermeasure to facilitate product development between the customer and the robot SIer company by using the "conceptual design", which is a deliverable that integrates the technical information of the customer and the robot SIer company.

　In recent years, as the demand for mass customization has grown, the number of product variations has increased, and the work involved in handling them has become more complex. In response, a product variation recommendation method using deep learning has been proposed as an initial effort of this study, which has the potential to facilitate the reuse of production data for similar products. However, managing the large number of variations for multiple products presents a challenge, requiring a learning model with high performance to effectively recommend product variations. Therefore, this study proposes a method to improve the recommendation capability by adding items that represent product characteristics for each product type and to further classify the data based on product characteristics. Then, we compare the recommended product variations with the conventional method to see how well they match the customer's requirements. Through this comparison the effect of improving the recommendation capability by considering the product type is shown.

　As the Japanese manufacturing industry shifts from mass production to non-mass production, the search costs for parts transactions are expected to increase in the future. The purpose of this study is to reveal the methods to visualize the technological capabilities of small and medium manufacturers (SMMs) through their websites while avoiding the risk of information leakages and to be copied. In this study, we focused on production equipment. We extracted descriptions of investment in production equipment from five years' worth of magazine articles on SMMs and analyzed the trends and found that their technological capabilities could be expressed in a straightforward manner, albeit indirectly. If this method is applied practically, even SMMs may be able to widely disseminate their technological capabilities while maintaining confidentiality. This study may help to reduce the search costs for both supply and demand sides, which are expected to increase in the future.

　This paper discusses intermediate organizations in technology diffusion. It has been pointed out that intermediate organizations are located between "producers" and "consumers" or "developers" and "users" and play an important role in the diffusion of technology and the creation of innovation using technology. On the other hand, research on their functions and roles is still in its developing stage, and there is a limited accumulation of research on intermediary organizations, especially in the field of B to B. In this paper, the roles and functions of intermediate organizations in technology diffusion are presented using case studies of companies located between suppliers and end-users in the metal additive manufacturing market, where technology diffusion is still in its early stages in Japan.

　The volume of data distribution, often referred to as "the oil of the 21st century," continues to grow and is expected to increase to 181 zettabytes by 2025. In today's society, the distribution of data in all industries - its creation, acquisition, reproduction, and consumption - has a significant impact on society. However, data management capabilities are overwhelmingly insufficient for the volume of data in circulation. Although relational databases (RDBs) have existed as a data management technology in business for a long time, RDBs are not necessarily optimal for handling today's high-mix, high-volume, and high-frequency data. This study discusses appropriate choices and technologies for managing high-mix, high-volume, and high-frequency data in the ever-expanding data society.

　In recent years, social changes have become visible. The automation of cash registers in supermarkets is a familiar and easy-to-understand example. Data science has also penetrated the marketing world, and data analysis has become an essential skill for marketers. In this era where data-driven decision making is becoming increasingly important, data analysis methods such as association analysis are powerful tools to support decision making in the marketing domain. The purpose of this study is to organize the flow of data analysis by marketers using Python, with association analysis as the main focus, and to explore the ideal form of PBL-type data science education.

　This study focuses on the historical management process of a company belonging to the student uniform manufacturing industry, which is considered representative of the local industry in Okayama, as it transitions from a follower to an industry leader through innovative business transformation. Specifically, it examines how the company's management has executed and evaluated the collection and integration of information related to changes in the social and economic environment surrounding the business, high-risk upfront investments for business transformation, identification of challenges and resolution of risks, and establishment of a new management system for prevention. It also highlights the innovative concepts regarding new products and production planning, and how the management has dealt with such issues.

　The Cabinet Office has constructed a dashboard showing the relationship between overall life satisfaction and satisfaction in each life domain, and is promoting efforts related to people's wellbeing. On the other hand, the improvement of the work environment is gaining more and more importance in corporate management in order to secure a stable workforce and to recruit young people. Based on survey data of workers from a number of different industries, we analyzed their employment status and work environment, which are related to their life satisfaction. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine which employment-related factors have a significant impact on the level of life satisfaction of workers, from the perspective of worker attributes across industries. The results indicate that factors such as "job flexibility" and "nature of work" have an impact on job satisfaction and health status, depending on the type of industry.

　Young children’s physical growth standardization charts are constructed from percentile values, the least squares approximation method, the LMS method, and other methods. The evaluation charts based on these methods are appropriate only for infancy, since this is the period of maximum growth throughout the child's life, and no growth fluctuations are detected during the growth phase. However, in infancy, physical growth is more sluggish than in infancy, indicating developmental fluctuations. This raises a serious problem with standardized charts of physical growth during infancy. Therefore, this study attempted to construct a smoothing curve using the wavelet interpolation model (WIM) and the LMS method in order to revalidate the standardized chart of physical growth in infancy, and to verify the reliability of the LMS method. Methods were used to construct 50th percentile curves for height, weight, and BMI for 3-6 year old boys, and different curves were drawn by both WIM and LMS methods. As a result, the residual sum of squares of the LMS method was larger than that of the WIM method for the variation of physical growth in infancy, and the WIM method was considered appropriate for constructing a rigorous physical growth evaluation curve. Therefore, the limitations of the LMS method in the construction of standardized charts in early childhood, when developmental fluctuations are large, are presented.

　In corporate health check-ups, determination of three body types (thinness, standard, obesity) is performed based on BMI, which is conveniently calculated from height and weight. However, it is difficult to diagnose hidden obesity, where individuals have a high body fat percentage despite having a standard physique. In recent years, there has been a trend of leaning towards thinness among young adult women in Japan, resulting in a high proportion of thinness in their twenties. Correspondingly, a high proportion of hidden obesity in this age group has also been reported. Hidden obesity is associated with serious diseases similar to obesity, and relative lack of muscle mass compared to standard physique suggests an increased risk of sarcopenia in the future, along with age-related decline in muscle mass. Additionally, as a challenge in terms of physical fitness, there is a significant lower value in all physical fitness elements compared to the standard physique, and it has been suggested that differences in body composition such as muscle mass and body fat content are influencing factors. With the increasing participation of women in the workforce in recent years, addressing these issues in corporations and elsewhere is becoming crucial from the perspective of maintaining and promoting employee health. This study adopts the criteria for diagnosing hidden obesity proposed by Naito et al. (2022) and aims to elucidate characteristics for various physical fitness of hidden obesity in young adult women.

　It has become a social issue that business succession cannot be carried out smoothly due to a lack of successor managers, making it difficult for local communities' employment, culture, and social values to be inherited. In addition to succession to successor managers within the same family, third-party succession to third parties outside the company is also increasing. This study provides an overview of previous research on third-party succession to outside parties, and describes the contribution to a sustainable society through the service ``Entrepreneurship Investment'', which also refers to previous research.

　I conducted a survey on awareness of third-party succession through small M&A and found that awareness was 24.6%. In this study, in addition to the management philosophy of Kyocera founder Kazuo Inamori, I focused on his successor, Kensuke Ito, investigated previous research and considered it, and proceeded to the "process of creating and integrating management philosophy in third-party succession." This study was conducted with the aim of obtaining suggestions. As a result of the discussion, I was able to obtain three main suggestions. The first point is that I was able to get an idea of the importance of not neglecting the management philosophy of our predecessors, but making it our own, and then starting from there. Second, I was able to obtain the suggestion that management philosophy, which is a non-financial management resource, plays a larger role than financial management resources. Third, regarding the “process of creating and merging management principles in third-party succession”', I was able to obtain suggestions that there is a need to categorize them depending on the relationship between the predecessor and successor managers.

　It has previously been pointed out that body mass index (BMI) may have a problem in overestimating obesity in people with taller heights and underestimating it in people with shorter heights. However, there are almost no reports in which BMI is actually calculated for tall and short heights and its relationship with body fat, the parameter most related to the definition of obesity, is examined. In this study, to confirm whether height differences affect determinations of physique from BMI, we constructed a linear regression equation of body fat percentage versus BMI in people with tall height (≥180 cm; 1,812 people), medium height (171 ± 1 cm; 4,204 people), and short height (≤161 cm; 1,106 people), respectively. We then performed covariance analysis on the regression equation for each of the constructed height groups, and by examining the differences in slope investigated whether differences exist in the relative composition of body fat percentage to BMI, depending of differences in height.

　In recent years the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has recommended “Health Management” as an effort to maintain and promote the health of company employees, and companies have been positively implementing activities that promote improved vitality. However, rate of anomalies observed in regular health checkups shows an increasing trend year by year, and health management efforts in the labor environment do not seem to have sufficiently taken root. The low health literacy of company employees has been indicated as one reason for this. In the current health management system, health information feedback to employees is slow, and so health motivation is low and health literacy is not improved. In this study, using the simple health indicator of BMI, we built a system that makes quick feedback possible. Then, by demonstrating the relationship with the physical function information of BMI, we examined its effectiveness as a simple indicator of level of health, and propose a new health management system targeted for young adults.

　In this study, we consider the suppression of bullwhips at each stage of the fixed-order and periodicorder systems. First, we construct an SC model consisting of two stages in series. Next, we examine the bullwhip phenomenon generated by the ordering behavior of wholesalers and manufacturers at each stage. Finally, we consider the influence of the bullwhip phenomenon and what kind of order placement leads to the reduction of the bullwhip phenomenon. Similarly, we will examine the regularity of ordering patterns in the SC by examining the three, four, and five levels.

　Obesity has become a major health concern in developed countries. Weight reduction is necessary for mitigating obesity, and it goes without saying that the basis of weight loss and weight management is a healthy diet and exercise. However, changing or starting new dietary and exercise habits, as well as maintaining them, is not easy. Therefore, it has become evident that many people opt for diet supplements as an alternative to diet and exercise. This study reports on an analysis of word-of-mouth experiences with diet products among male workers who have engaged in voluntary weight loss activities, in order to examine weight management for the maintenance of health.

　 The analysis of 1,307 reviews from male diet supplement users aged between 20 and 50 showed the following results: The importance of improving everyday lifestyle habits, such as diet and exercise, was recognized by most users, regardless of the product used, the duration of use, or age. This suggests that many are using diet supplements while acknowledging the significance of lifestyle changes for weight loss. Moreover, a majority of users had negative opinions about the products. It was also considered that product advertising influenced the purchase, indicating the possibility of unnecessary weight loss activities. For workers, it is desirable to manage their weight independently. This requires acquiring personal body data and considering the necessary measures. Towards more appropriate weight management, there is a desire to establish an environment where data on weight, BMI, and the body composition of the entire body and limbs can be regularly obtained.