This study focuses on three of Japan’s textile/apparel production areas, where both the apparel and sewing/processing industries are clustered: Kita Saitama（ Saitama Prefecture）, Gifu （Gifu Prefecture）, and Kurashiki （Okayama Prefecture）. This study focuses on the structureagency interdependence in these production areas. Moreover, it investigates the role of “agency” in the collapse of existing structures and the formation of new structures. In Northern Saitama, the “change in resource allocation,” that is, the decrease in the amount of work ordered from apparel to sewing/processing industries, changed the power relationship, and the dominance of the apparel industry weakened. Consequently, the sewing/processing industry developed into original design manufacturer （ODM） through communication between the same industry. In Gifu, the apparel industry or trading companies outside the production area requested technical instruction from the sewing/processing industry, which could not refuse the offer. However, these sewing and processing industries have established their own factories abroad because of their relationships with foreign countries through technical instruction. As a result, these factories are more sustainable than those established by the apparel industry. Meanwhile, in Kurashiki, in the field of denim and jeans, the apparel and sewing/processing industries communicated with each other to meet the individual and special processing needs of a new actor, jeans shops. In addition, they strengthened their legitimacy as the “origin of domestic jeans” to attract customers. Therefore, the agency that intervened in the structural change differed from one production area to another. Thus, the main actors playing a central role in this agency also differed. This suggests that even with the same social and economic environment, the structure of the production area can change in a wide variety of ways, depending on the independent actions of the actors.

Since the 1990s, the Japanese apparel industry has faced a profound crisis under globalization and the Fast Fashion Regime. This paper focuses on the plights and struggles of the local garment sector, a manufacturing base of the domestic apparel industry, and explores its breakthrough by using commodity chain theory and conducting fieldwork in peripheral areas, mainly Kochi Prefecture. The major findings are as follows:

Lead firms’ global sourcing and the rise of Fast Fashion have had devastating effects on the domestic garment production areas. Especially, under the multi-layered subcontracting structure, peripheral areas have been dismantled by the effects of the offshore production shift due to plant closures, contract cancellations, lowering volume/fees, and shortening delivery times. Some manufacturers have relied on survival strategies such as starting overseas production and importing foreign labor. These dual globalization strategies, however, have instead increased their business vulnerability.

Under this circumstance, local garment companies have increasingly recognized the risk of OEM and found a way to break out of subcontracting. They have tried to extend their reach from the garment sector into design and marketing and have formed vertical integration of the apparel commodity chains. In addition, they have also pursued localization strategies of high value-added product development, unique market cultivation, and high-skilled labor-power reproduction. Vertical integration, as well as localization, is a new business model that has helped local companies to survive in the midst of globalization/Fast Fashion Regime, and is a crucial policy measure that state/local governments should provide.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the basic features of the EU’s “Green Deal” policypackage and the “decarbonization” strategies of the major automobile companies and to examine how we can understand the industrial trend called “EVs（ Electric Vehicles） shift” in Europe.

The European Green Deal has emerged as a countermeasure to global warming in the context of the CASE revolution （Connected, Automated, Sharing, Electrification）. It’s not just a “growth” strategy, but a “social transformation” strategy intended to shift to clean energy through the spread and promotion of renewable energy and to build a circular economy model.

The European GD, which aims to change the game and take the lead in building and promoting a new economic model, has the potential to make a breakthrough in promoting fundamental reform of the business model of the automotive industry.

Therefore, the “decarbonization” strategies of the European automotive companies, which is being promoted in response, should not be seen as mere promotion of “electrification” or “EV commercialization”, but as strategies to build new business models appropriate for the CASE revolution.

The “EVs shift” in Europe is being driven by social and political trends, and the dynamics of “government initiative,” which is different from market needs, and should be seen as a trend that will continue in Europe, albeit under certain constraints. One of the strengths of European societies is that it has an integrated public-private promotion system in which rules and institutions lead the way and public-private partnerships function.

The future of the “decarbonization” strategies of the European automotive manufacturers based on the “EVs shift” will depend on how they can induce innovation and link it to increased profitability and competitive advantages, or how they can strengthen their overall industrial powers through promotion of their “decarbonization” strategies.

In this study, the author compared the trends of the discussions on the reform of automobile recycling businesses and systems in Japan and Poland. Poland is an EU nation, where there are no country-origin automakers and the country imports numerous used vehicles from Germany and other countries. The author believes that the unique nature of Japan’s automobile recycling system will emerge through this comparison. In 2020, the global industry suffered serious damage from the COVID-19 pandemic. The author also examined the kind of impact the pandemic had on the changes in Japanese and EU regulations. The first wave of the pandemic had a great impact on the automobile recycling （or dismantling） businesses in both Japan and Poland. Nevertheless, these businesses, as an essential work sector, have not faced financial difficulties, partly due to the higher prices of scrap metal in 2020. However, the difficulty in securing end-of-life-vehicles （ELVs） still remains a common issue in both countries amid declining new car sales due to semiconductor shortages as well as active deals in the used car market.

Meanwhile, in EU nations, issues in recycling automobile shredder residue （ASR） are not considered social problem. Instead, issues on missing vehicles and distinctions between used car and ELVs are still discussed in the EU: these issues were discussed in Japan for more than 10 years. Notably, issues for the informal sector in Poland are more serious than those in Japan. As a result, in Poland, many ELVs are not delivered to certified recyclers who run their businesses legally.

The purpose of this study is to examine cases of “Itaku” development using ICT to link the bases of distant Toyota Group companies, focusing on the relationship between the Toyota Auto Body R&D and its parent company: Toyota Auto Body, and to clarify the significance and applicability of such cases. In this study, the following points were clarified. First, in the mid-2000s, Toyota Auto Body R&D began digitizing its design and development work and introducing a communication system that links remote locations, enabling the division of labor among remote locations for design and development work. Second, the Toyota Auto Body R&D’ s model was found to be well suited for adjusting the supply-demand relationship in the labor market. Third, although in the case of Toyota Auto Body R&D, face-to-face meetings with customers in Aichi Prefecture are mandatory when making critical decisions, and the division of labor model is still far from perfect. These are the findings of this study.

The research theme of this paper is to clarify the reasons and background of why Toyota selected Tianjin Automobile as its domestic passenger car joint venture partner and proceeded with the joint venture business in the early 1990s. As a research method, I use oral history. According to Nomura（2017）’s definition, Oral history is a form of interviewing that focuses on past events or specific periods of time related to the subject in a retrospective manner. This method not only fills in the gaps in the records on the front stage, but also delves into behindthe-scenes information and the inner lives of the people involved, by preserving information that would otherwise have been lost. In this way, we can not only fill in the gaps in the records of the front stage, but also delve into the behind-the-scenes information and the inner lives of the people involved. Based on this idea, this research is a record of interviews conducted with four people by adopting the “semi-structured interview” method, which allows the interviewer to pose questions freely while setting a certain number of common questions to be addressed.

The interviews were conducted with the following four individuals with the following positions.

Mr. A : Chief representative, Beijing office, Toyota Motor.

Mr. B : Manager, at Asia Division, and Chief representative, Beijing office, Toyota Motor.

Mr. C : Project general manager, Beijing, Tianjin, Chengdu and Shanghai office, Toyota Motor.

Mr. D : General Manager, Beijing Office, Toyota-Tsusho.

In response to the question of why Toyota chose Tianjin Automobile as its joint venture partner, each of the four left a testimony from their own perspective. Mr. A emphasized the impatience of Toyota’s senior management. Mr. B pointed out that “New Industry Policy of Automobile” in 1994 was very important. Toyota conducted the business plan from parts supplier to car maker though Tianjin-Daihatsu project. Mr. C pointed out that Tianjin-Daihatsu was not a joint venture, but only a technical assistance production, and that there was a policy of fostering Tianjin Automobile as a domestic enterprise by Chinese government. Mr. D pointed out that the Chinese government wanted to use Toyota to rebuild the management of Tianjin Automobiles, and that the background of the government’s intention was the dark history between Japan and China. As E. H. Carr （1961） pointed out, "different narrators approach the facts in different ways, and different interpretations are created," which was demonstrated in this research.

This paper shows that the certification system for commercial aircraft ensures the technological competitiveness of Boeing as an aircraft manufacturer.

First, through the development and production of aircraft, Boeing has accumulated experience, knowledge, and know-how about federal aviation regulations in the United States. These are reflected in its in-house sharing system for specifications, materials, and certification plans.

Second, Boeing is often involved in the development of federal aviation regulations, so its engineers understand them from their origins.

Third, Boeing has been able to control development costs and manufacturing times by not applying federal aviation regulations, or omitting testing, when changing materials sources for existing aircraft and when developing derivative aircraft.

Fourth, the delegation of certification authority from the Federal Aviation Administration （FAA） gives Boeing an advantage over other firms. Having Boeing’s in-house engineers become FAA representatives （company Designated Engineering Representative （DER） and Boeing Organization Designation Authority Engineering Unit Member （ODA E-Um）） shortens and streamlines the certification process by eliminating the need for explanations in testing and inspections, compared to requesting approval from FAA engineers or third-party consultant DERs. In addition, the FAA’s delegation of authority has shifted from the FAA appointing individual agents to the FAA designating Boeing as the organization and Boeing appointing the agents, thus minimizing the FAA’s involvement in the process and increasing the number of agents under the manufacturer’s control.

With the above in mind, the certification system serves as a social factor that ensures Boeing’ s technological competitiveness. In general, technology monopolies lead to market monopolies, but this technology monopoly is guaranteed by the social institutions of the state. In the aerospace industry, Western companies are able to capture markets by spreading risk through the international division of labor, but this can only be achieved on the basis of technological competitiveness, which is grounded in social institutions supported by the state.

This study evaluated a set of industrial policies that were proposed for the Chinese steel industry during its period of rapid expansion from 2000 to 2015. These policies were to enlarge the equipment scale, expand the production scale of companies and concentrate production in China in the control of several steel giants. In previous studies, these policies were mainly evaluated in terms of achievement of their aims. However, when aims are unreasonable, achieving them does not necessarily indicate success. The study evaluated the contents of these industrial policies in terms of three aspects: aims, implementation, and results. Ideally, results that matches the policy’s intention should contribute to the development of the Chinese steel industry. First, the contents of these industrial policies were organized into four main areas: 1）establishment of modern coastal steel plants, 2）promotion of mergers and acquisitions, 3）selection of old-fashioned and small equipment, and 4）regulations for new entries. Then, the contents in each area were classified using a biaxial method, i.e, whether the policy aim is reasonable or not; and whether the implementation is forceful or not. Finally, the results of the different types of policies were examined. It was found that establishing modern coastal steel plants and selecting old-fashioned and small equipment aimed at environmentally sound production achieved results that matches the policy’s intention and contributed to the development of Chinese steel industry. However, the aims in other content areas were found to be unreasonable, and there was no result that matches the policy’s intention achieved regardless of whether or not the implementation was forceful. In contrast, unintended results from the market activities contributed to the development of Chinese steel industry. This paper suggests that the aims of industrial policies should be realistically adjusted according to the actual situation.

This study aims to prove the Theory of the Oligopolistic Reaction（ ORT） in the comparative study in analyzing the trajectory of the overseas paint business for the housing and buildings of two Japanese oligopolistic paint companies – Nippon Paint and Kansai Paint over the past 60 years since 1960’s.

Knickerbocker （1973） introduced the ORT to explain why competing companies in the monopolistic industries tend to follow rival companies into the similar foreign markets in almost simultaneously. In contrast, Ietto-Gillies（ 2019） argues that the herding of foreign market entries in the ORT is taken place as a result of the risk-averse action by these companies. The ORT is proved effective in explaining the herding phenomenon by generalizing the incentives and results of the oligopolistic companies. This, however, counter-argues that Ietto-Gillies’s conclusion is simplistic in explaining the strategic action. Therefore, the ORT must be further explored by analyzing actual cases. Thus, the ORT is revisited by analyzing the historical case of two Japanese paint companies.

This study focuses on two factors, the mode of the foreign market entry decision – countries or areas, incentives, timing, and scheme, and the ex-ante conditions of two companies. Conclusion is drawn that the ex-ante conditions of the two companies had clearly affected each foreign strategy and their accomplishment. This contributes to add new decision factors to the ORT in the recent period of the competitive global business arena.

More and more companies are trying to use 3D printers to promote digital manufacturing or rebuild their supply chains. Compared to conventional mass production system using molds, additive manufacturing（ AM） technology using 3D printers enables flexible and rapid high-mix, low-volume production system. AM technology makes it possible to create integrated structures or complex shapes. Also, it can shorten the processing cycle time and improve yield. In particular, metal AM technology has made remarkable progress in recent years, and the range of applications has expanded significantly such as aerospace, energy, industrial equipment and automotive. Metal AM technology is not easy to introduce because the equipment or material is expensive and it requires expertise in fabrication process. The organization that fills these gaps is the service bureau which engages in contract processing business using 3D printers. It is important that the service bureaus position at the contact point or brokerage that connect companies such as customers, equipment manufacturers, and powder material manufacturers. It is necessary for service bureaus to find the optimum conditions and to keep track of many parameters for each fabrication case as their know-how of each company. In Japan, the metal AM market has been driven by service bureaus. On the other hand, the number of the previous surveys or studies that focus on service bureaus are few. In this paper, we would like to clarify the role of service bureaus in Japan through the history of the metal AM field development and the case studies of the service bureaus in the metal AM field.

The importance of design utilization in corporate management is increasing more and more. Especially in large companies, design is used not only for product design but also for corporate management. On the other hand, local SMEs still do not have a sufficient understanding of design. Therefore, this paper focuses on the utilization of design in local small and medium-sized manufacturing companies.

SMEs have less management resources than large companies. And since it is costly to utilize design, it is often difficult to have a designer in-house, or it is not positive to utilize designers. Therefore, in this research, we will practice the utilization of external designers. In this research, we aim to demonstrate the local version of the design management model by actually practicing matching between manufacturing SMEs and designers and working on the development of new products that utilize design, and at the same time, practice design management in local SMEs. Utilizing an external designer also means matching with the designer’s sensibility, and in this paper, we will practice matching based on this sensibility and consider from the case.

In matching with a normal external designer, the judgment is greatly influenced by the objective information such as the designer’s career, qualification, and award history. Therefore, we created a sheet that describes the QCD information of design personnel and the sensitivity information separately. Then, matching was carried out with priority given to sensitivity. From the practice of matching at TOKOSHA CO., LTD, issues for accumulating case studies in the future were also materialized.

The development of new technologies can significantly change the existing market structure. Currently, the number of small and medium-sized photo studios has decreased sharply. It is said that the major reason is that anyone can easily take beautiful pictures with a digital camera or smartphone.

On the other hand, kimono shops have begun to provide photography services, and the number of photo studios dedicated to children’s photography is increasing. And a wedding chapel is being built with an awareness of photography. In that case, I thought that the appearance of digital cameras and smartphones would not be a major cause of the decrease in photo studios. In the process of becoming such a situation, we considered what kind of structural changes had occurred in the photo studio market.

The business model of these new entrants is centered on the provision of costumes and stage settings. The experience is emphasized and the target customers are clarified. The store has been converted into a specialty store and a complex store according to the purpose and convenience of the customer. Photography is one of the components of the services provided by these stores. In addition, many young female employees are hired, making it a workplace where women can play an active role.

At first glance, it was a photo studio that was thought to be declining, but it turned out that there was a tendency for development. Photo studios are evolving in a different form than before.