This paper has analyzed the relationship between small/medium enterprises (SMEs) and financial institutions based on the results of questionnaires answered by SMEs in the Tokai and Kansai regions. With the development of telecommunication technology and progress in securities market's infrastructure, there are fewer cases in which geographical distance poses a problem in financial transactions. However, financing for SMEs is expected to remain dependent on indirect finance, i.e., financing through their major trading bank, inasmuch as it will be necessary for financial institutions to play a major role in overcoming difficulties caused by the information asymmetry. More specifically, this type of relationship banking in which periodical direct contact lends to increased knowledge about SMEs is thriving as a means to eliminate the issue of information asymmetry. This paper finds that the direct contact or communication, an integral part of relationship banking becomes difficult when banks locate far from firms.

JEL Classification: G21

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In this paper, to analyze the similarities and differences between the regional finance of Japan and South Korea (hereinafter, “Korea”), we compared questionnaires to small to midsize companies located in Korea's Daegu/Gyeongbuk region with questionnaires to small to midsize companies located in Japan's Kansai and Tokai regions. From the results, we were able to confirm that regional financial systems in Japan and Korea are very similar. For example, in the US, there is an overwhelming amount of small to midsize companies with only one partner bank, however, in Japan and Korea, having multiple partner banks is the norm. Therefore, the practice of having multiple partner banks should not be considered as being unique to Japan, rather, it can be inferred that such a phenomenon is natural in certain social, economical, and legal systems. Contrastingly, we found various differences between Japan and Korea. For example, in response to the question on the assessment of financial institutions, Korean firms gave the most positive assessment for “provision of funds,” whereas Japanese firms gave the most positive assessment for “knowledge on your companies.” These differences can be understood as the causes of the discrepancy between Japan and Korea in the level of economic development.

JEL Classification: G21, G32

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To survive and prosper in a competitive marketplace, an organization must strive to respond continuously to opportunities and threats posed by the uncertainty of environments. CEOs typically play a leading role in this task through promoting internal competition or cooperation. There is general consensus among managers and researchers that either internal competition or cooperation among members has respective positive effects on organizational performances. However, so-called inter-functional copetition, that indicates the simultaneous approach of internal competition and cooperation among functional departments, has not been taken into the spotlight, even though cooperation among competitors is currently considered a major strategic orientation.
This study investigates the role of organizational strategies in the causal process between environmental uncertainty and inter-functional copetition, and the role of inter-functional copetition in the causal process between organizational strategies and performances, and the moderating effect of evaluation system by CEOs for reward.
Using a survey methodology, this study tests the research model with data collected from a nation-wide sample of 250 IT manufacturers. The results of the regression analysis show that (1) SSP (i.e., a strategy of simultaneously pursuing both efficiency and innovation) has a significantly positive influence on organizational performances under the environmental uncertainty; (2) inter-functional copetition significantly mediates the influencing process between SSP and organizational performances (both financial and technological performances); (3) Evaluation of performance by CEO significantly moderates the relationship between SSP and inter-functional copetition. The results of this study are synthesized and the implications for future theory-building and practical management are discussed.

JEL Classification: L21, O53

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This paper investigates how Korean IT SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) deploy their market orientation, cross-functional cooperation and cooperation with outside organizations for successful technology innovation. Specifically, this study analyses the main effects of market orientation on technology innovation as well as the interaction effects among the above variables. The survey data of 326 Korean IT SMEs were collected and integrated as the empirical base for testing the hypotheses. Empirical results showed that market orientation was an influential determinant to SMEs' technology innovation. Also, the interaction between market orientation and cross-functional cooperation had a positive and significant effect on IT SMEs' technology innovation (both of product and process innovation). And the interaction between market orientation and cooperation with outside organizations had a positive and significant effect on IT SMEs' product innovation, but not on the process innovation. The IT SMEs' innovation is a complex task and there is no single best way available for all firms. The implications of these findings, limitations, and future research directions were also discussed.

JEL Classification: O31, O53

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Taiwan's hi-tech sector has grown rapidly; the expansion of the electronics and IT industry has been particularly impressive. Since the late 1970s, the electronics and IT industry has been positioned by the Taiwanese government as a key strategic industry the development of which should be prioritized, and today this industry is one of the most important contributors to the growth of the Taiwanese economy as a whole. Taiwan's hi-tech sector is mainly located in Northern Taiwan, where a major “hi-tech corridor” has emerged.
Besides examining how Taiwan's hi-tech sector has evolved over time, the present study also explores electronics and IT industry cluster development in Northern Taiwan. Using the results of a questionnaire survey on the industry cluster effect, inter-enterprise collaboration and technology innovation that was administered in late 2006, the study seeks to identify the salient characteristics of Taiwan's electronics and IT industry clusters. The study finds that active promotion of technology innovation is associated with enterprises that have been in existence for a relatively short time, those where the chairman or CEO has studied overseas, those where a high percentage of the company's shares are held by foreign investors, and those that are geographically close to their customers and suppliers. In addition, being located in an industry cluster, having a high percentage of shared held by foreign investors, and being located close to customers and suppliers are all associated with superior earnings performance.

JEL Classification: O31, O53

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This paper constructs a monopolistic competition trade model to describe the mechanism of import-induced export which is defined as expansion of consumer product export size caused by import of massive advanced machinery. This paper introduces the product quality preference into the monopolistic competition trade model, and finds with the improvement of product quality, foreign demand for domestic manufactured consumer product will rise. Import of eligible machinery can raise the short-term profit and export volume of domestic consumer product manufacturers, and also raise total export volume of domestic consumer product industry.

JEL Classification: F14, D20, O50

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Based on the model of buyer's monopoly, this article takes the Yangtze River Delta Region as an example to analyze the employment effect of minimum wage on migrant workers. Empirical study of statistical data from seven cities in the region demonstrates that minimum wage could contribute to employment of migrant workers. With the impact of the financial crisis, market adjustment could disturb and destabilize the positive effect of minimum wage policies. Therefore, government should take active measures and interfere in the labor market to maintain targeted employment level and economic growth.

JEL Classification: J23, J31

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Based on endogenous R&qmp;D activities from new growth theory, this paper empirically explores the effects of indigenous technological spillovers on innovative performance of high-tech industry in the Yangtze River Delta, through both sectoral and regional regression models using panel data from 1997 to 2006. The result of sectoral regression demonstrates that agglomeration of industrial specialization induces weakly negative effects of technological spillovers in Yangtze River Delta. The findings of regional regression indicate that Shanghai as the innovation pole in the region provides positive effects for both Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas, while Zhejiang benefits from Shanghai as well as Jiangsu, and that Jiangsu receives positive effects from Shanghai but suffers from Zhejiang at the same time.

JEL Classification: O14, O18, O32

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The aim of this paper is to explore the contribution of land to economic growth in the Yangtze River Delta during the period of 1991 to 2006. After clustering the 16 cities into three groups, namely, one core city, five sub-center cities and ten peripheral cities, the author further takes advantage of recent developments of series co-integration techniques to deal with the endogeneity of variables. The results demonstrate that, firstly, the core city of Shanghai exhibits the highest contribution of land to economic growth but the contribution rate shows a tendency of gradual decline. Secondly, in the five sub-center cities including Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi and Ningbo, though the contribution of land is lower than that in Shanghai, the contribution rate presents an evidently ascending trend. And thirdly, in the other ten peripheral cities, the contribution of land is the least while the contribution rate takes on a weak uptrend. In general, the contribution of land correlates with the level of economic development while the contribution rate takes an inverse U with the economic level. Therefore, it is critical for all cities in the Yangtze River Delta to improve the efficiency of land-use and transform from extensive economy into intensive economic development as soon as possible.

JEL Classification: O18, R14

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In recent years, Japan's software industry has increased its revenue. However, with strong need to reduce the sale price, both firms and employees share the pain. The main products by the Japanese software industry are ordered software such as software to be imbedded in home appliances or software for system of financial institutions. Therefore, software industry faces the difficulty to raise the price, and the firms need to deploy the offshore development in order to cut the cost.
The major destination of the offshore development is China. The reasons are cheaper wage, huge number of engineers, ability of learning Japanese, and geographical accessibility. When using the offshore development, firms need to achieve both reducing the cost and stabilize the demand fluctuation. Many large firms establish their subsidiary for cheap product and accept additional demand at mother plant. Small and medium firms use the intermediating company, which has long experiences of business with both Japanese and Chinese business.
After several years since offshore outsourcing to China started, we cannot observe the strengthening of the collaboration of firms in the clustering such as Dalian Software Park. Rather than that, firms are facing the need to change their strategy because the wages are increasing even in China.

JEL Classification: F15, F21, L86

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Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) is a new type of telecommunication service provider that has recently received much attention in developed countries. MVNO buys network capacity from Mobile Network Operators (MNO) at a wholesale discount price and resells it to the end users after adding value such as brand appeal, packaging or other extra services on the top of the traditional service. Previous studies have focused on mobile network infrastructure, market structure, government regulations and the relationship between MNO and MVNO to understand the success of the MVNO business model. However, user preference for adoption of MVNO services has not been thoroughly investigated in the past. During the past few years, several Middle Eastern countries have made major improvements and achieved penetration rates similar to that of European countries. This paper aims to discuss user preference for adopting MVNO services in the Saudi Arabian market. Structural Equation Modeling was used for analysis. The results showed that lack of customer value with current MNOs drives the potential adoption of MVNO. The results also showed that Saudi Arabian customers have limited dissatisfaction with their current operators and that discount MVNO is the most highly favored.

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Using the Theil population-weighted method for per capita GDP and the variance in a shift-share analysis on labor productivity, we conduct a comprehensive interregional income inequality decomposition analysis on Indonesia before and after the 1998 economic crisis.
Interregional income inequality is largely determined by the interregional inequality in the productivity differential component due to the region's specific sector-by-sector productivity differentials—the result of investments accumulated in technology, public infrastructure and human capital. Although the interregional inequality in the productivity differentials show a declining trend throughout the period under observation, they should have decreased further, considering the active implementation of policies aimed at balanced regional development. However, the results are still far below the target levels because of the effects of economic agglomeration. An examination of non-productivity factors shows that the interregional inequality in the employment rate has become the dominant factor after the crisis, whereas the active population rate was dominant before. The widening of the interregional employment gap is a new concern for Indonesia. The relative decrease in urban employment rates in 2003-2006 and the predominance of inequality in higher educational attainments within the urban sector reported by Akita and Miyata[5]suggest a growing deterioration in the labor market efficiency in urban regions.

JEL Classification: D63, O40, R11, R58

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In this note, we analyze two hitherto unstudied questions from the perspective of an automobile dealer that uses a particular temporal decision rule to provide loaner vehicles to customers who come to its facility with automobile repair requests. First, on the assumption that the basic criterion for the above mentioned decision rule is satisfied, we determine the expected repair times of automobiles for which our dealer provides customers with loaner vehicles. Second, we ascertain the average number of loaner vehicles that are out with customers.

JEL Classification: L62, C44, D81

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St. Martin's Island with a total area of about eight sq. km is the only coral bearing island of Bangladesh. The ecosystem of the island is facing environmental threat due to excessive tourism during the last few years. Coastal erosion, coral extraction, domestic pollution, unplanned physical development and destructive fishing techniques are the major environmental threats occurring due to uncontrolled tourism activities. With the assault of unregulated tourism, the pressure on the scanty land of the island is ever increasing. The island has been identified as an environmentally sensitive area. The special importance of this island requires developmental control and management tools to prevent haphazard and unplanned development. In this study, a viable land use plan was proposed to protect the Island from further environmental degradation.

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