In recent years, it is frequently observed that the mechanisms of innovation have been examined with “ecosystem” as an analysis unit of analysis. This paper defines “ecosystem,” a relatively ambiguous concept, as collective agents that have contributed to realizing a concept of new value system through the development and production of an artifact. The implication of this definition and future research agenda are also discussed in the paper.

Considering the interdependent nature of innovation of the IT industry, the following three core principles can be pointed out as fundamentals of the ecosystem: Principles of choice, opportunity, and interoperability. This paper examines the impact of these principles on the transition from the PC-based software innovation to recent Web-based software innovation.

This paper suggests a “resource attraction view” to understand competitive advantage issues. The idea of resource attraction can be defined as a certain firmʼs stronger ability to attract excellent management resources for its business partners than competitors. Through a case study of Seven-Eleven Japan concerning a process of constructing their business systems, the paper indicates that this ability would be generated from a cooperative relationship between partners with an aim to create co-prosperity in business. In addition, the paper reveals some features and logical issues of the idea of resource attraction by comparing it to that of “business ecosystem.”

This paper calls a product system consisting of two ecosystems a “parallel platform market.” The paper argues strategic viewpoints unique to the market thorough case studies. The case studies point out the following five elements of management: (1) network effect across platforms, (2) profit differences between platforms, (3) platform product as a set, (4) connective platform, and (5) multi-homing of platforms.

The digital games are classified into the video game arcade cabinet and video game console. This paper firstly introduces the content relational model of digital games, from the viewpoints of relationships of rights, inheritance structures, and hierarchy of contents. Secondly, the paper attempts to clarify a pattern of “original-complementary content transitional options.” The digital games business player could recognize the structure of content ecosystem and forecast the change in sales performance by utilizing the perspective of original-complementary content transitional options.

Expanding search in research and development (R&D) allows to strengthen the function of absorbing uncertainty, diversifying technological knowledge, and enhancing flexibility to a volatile environment, which increases the survival probability of an organization. However, constraints of resource allocation could lower agility in R&D. This study analyzes a relationship between a range of search and agility in the semiconductor industry. The results reveal that expanding search contributes to accumulating diverse knowledge in an organization, while the expansion leads to decline in R&D agility.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how long established companies have been standing for a long time. A large number of researches on long established companies have focused on the present condition of their internal resources represented by the goodwill because they are under the strong influence of RBV (resource-based view). There is, however, a limitation to those analyses, as they have the tendency to ignore mechanisms of long-ranged continuance.
This paper depicts two Hatcho-Miso makers as a comparative case study. They both have long history in traditional miso makers in Japan. While both miso makers have been sustaining similar traditional resources, they followed separate histories.
In conclusion, as the results of the case study, the following three points are observed: (1) The history of each maker shows different dynamism from each other, even though they have had similar traditional resources; (2) since each stakeholderʼs relational structure has been different, each makerʼs practical use of traditional resources has been also different; and (3) such difference has brought distinctions between each makerʼs sustainable strategy.

This paper presents a model linking information acquisition, expectations, and repatriation adjustment, based on previous frameworks. Furthermore, this study examines the presented model by verifying effects of information acquisition, both before and after reentry, on repatriation adjustment and expectations. The study is based on data of repatriates at nine large Japanese MNCs (multinational corporations).
The results support the following five hypotheses: (1) Information acquisition before reentry positively affects repatriatesʼ expectations; (2) expectations positively affect repatriation adjustment, which is consistent with previous findings; (3) information acquisition before reentry positively affects repatriation adjustment; (4) information acquisition after reentry positively affects repatriation adjustment; and (5) the presented model constructed of four hypotheses is adequate to the data. Moreover, the results reveal that substantially greater opportunities for information acquisition from repatriatesʼ supervisors and organizations have positive effects or closely positive effects on repatriation adjustment and expectations, although information acquisition from colleagues do not consistently show effect on these outcomes. The results indicate that expectations mediate between information acquisition before reentry and repatriation adjustment.
Based on these findings, new perspectives are proposed for developing theories. Practical implications of these results are also discussed.