The Formation of “Solution” for an Industry’s Self-renewal and Entrepreneurial Activity

by Koichiro Kodama

This paper determines how the “standard solution” for the self-renewal of the photoprinting industry in the face of the digitization of photography was formed. In contrast to many photo shops lacking a sense of crisis, Kitamura decided to deploy digital minilabs across its chain of stores in order to shift its business from film to digital photography. Acting on this decision, Kitamura halted the execution of its existing strategy midway, disposed of its old mini-lab machines, and replaced them with peripheral equipment that could take digital photo-printing orders. The timing of this adaptation to the market was attributed to Kitamura’s business composition and its information-processing capabilities.

In this regard, how was this decision made by Kitamura accepted by the entire industry as the “standard solution”? The main reason was that Kitamura had established its new business system well before its rivals, after which it promoted the benefits of digital mini-labs and took advantage of this gap in the market. Accordingly, the company’s rivals discarded their earlier plans and began to introduce digital mini-labs into their stores due to which digital mini-labs became the “standard solution” for dealing with the digitization of photography.

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When and how a unified national capital market emerges are important questions because of the crucial role which mobility of capital plays in the process of economic growth. By tracing the pattern of the development of a unified capital market in Japan for deposit and loan rates by prefecture, this paper will attempt to show that the Japanese capital market had achieved a considerable degree of integration before the turn of the twentieth century. For the thirty-seven year period (1889-1925), both June and December loan and deposit rates for each prefecture were analyzed for inter-prefectural variability. The principal measure used was V which was obtained by dividing the dispersion term (Σ^^n__<i=1>(X_<it>-X^^-_t))/n by X^^-_t, the mean rate in year t. X_<it> is loan (or deposit) rate of i^<th> prefecture in year t. The dispersion term was divided by X^^-_t to reduce the effect of higher variation found among the higher rates. The results of calculations were checked also by the more standard measure of variation, σ/X^^-, and the data was further analyzed by use of simple linear trend lines fitted, for each prefecture, for both loan and deposit rates. The major findings are (i) with respect to dispersion, the Japanese capital market had two distinct stages and the first stage (before the Russo-Japanese War) was characterized by a greater reduction in the inter-prefectural variation of the rates than was observed in the second period (after the Russo-Japanese War); (ii) inter-prefectural variations in deposit rates declined much more quickly than those for loan rates during the firsf stage; and (iii) the interprefectural differentials of the mean rates for both loan and deposit rates require closer examinations of institutional changes and banking practices since there are numerous exceptions to the theoretically expected results. After presenting further analyses of these findings vis-a-vis the changing economic condition of Japan and offering a few hypotheses yet to be tested, the paper presents the following conclusion. The rapid development of the banking system and the significant progress in the process of unifying capital market was an integral part of Japanese industrialization. The sharp declines in the inter-prefectural variation in rates observed at the turn of the century indicate that the preparation for "the accelerated growth of the modern economy" had been completed before 1906. This paper argues that the importance of the development of the banking system for economic growth applies to Japan perhaps even more dramatically than it did to the industrialized nations of the West.

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2013年10月29日に開業したポラス海峡横断鉄道は，アジアとヨーロッパを沈埋工法とシールド工法，NATMにより結ぶ地下トンネルであり，「トルコ国民150年の夢」と呼ばれる建設事業である。このトンネルを構成する沈埋函体，シールドセグメント，覆工や駅舎構築物のコンクリートには，100年の耐用年数を保証する強度，耐久性と止水性能が要求された。本稿では，世界中の専門家から「不可能に近い事業だ」といわれたこの工事の概要を紹介するとともに，函体・セグメントの製作やトンネル施工などのコンクリート関連技術と，トンネル構造としての耐震性等を確保するためのセメント系材料の施工について報告する。

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本稿は，ニアの直面する著しい対外不均衡を資金循環の面から分析する。ニアの個人消費に依存した成長および対外不均衡は，銀行の消費者金融により資金面から支えられている。マクロ的には，外国銀行による親銀行からの対外借入が消費者金融の原資としての役割を高めていることが判明した。ミクロ的には，外国銀行は生産物を貸出金に集中している一方で，その資金調達手段を多様化していることが判明した。

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1997年SID国際会議のカラープラズマディスプレイセッションにおける論文発表について報告している。発表論文数は、口頭論文5件タ論文1件であった。発表論文は、招待講演の1件がカラープラズマディスプレイの総合報告、疑似輪郭改善の画質に関する論文2件、動作原理に関する実験結果及び新しい電極構造の提案それぞれ1件、MgOに関するタ論文1件に分類できる。

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The heterogeneity made by collaboration and dialogue through networking, and the revolution and creativity produced by encounter of surprises and realization, it's such a mystery!

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商用印刷分野では，オフセット印刷と同様の幅広い種類の用紙対応力が求められている．特に表面に凹凸加工を施したエン紙は，その独特の質感から印刷物の表紙などに使用されることが多いため，エン紙へ印刷できる技術が望まれていた．リコーでは2013年6月発売のRicoh Pro C5110S/C5100SにAC転写技術と弾性定着ベルト技術を搭載し，エン紙への印刷を可能にした．今回，AC転写の新規非対称交流波形技術と，弾性定着ベルト層厚の最適化により，印刷可能なエン紙の種類を格段に広げると同時に，画像品質も向上させた．本論文では，上記エン紙印刷品質向上技術について報告する．

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コミュニティ放送は,既存放送制度に対抗する,「コミュニティ」のための放送として,各国で制度化されてきた.コミュニティ放送局が対象とする「コミュニティ」概念の実態的な有効性を,オーストラリアの地方都市アーミデールの事例で検討した.アーミデールでは,大学に基盤を持つ「ラジオ」局としてRUNEが1970年から存在し,その後の制度変更によってHPON(大出力ナローキャスティング)のTUNE! FMとなり,現在に至っている.1970年代半ばに「公共放送」(コミュニティ放送の前身)が注目されると, RUNEを母体に,新たに2ARMが組織され,放送が始まった.やがて, RUNEから独立した2ARMは,安定的に運営された時期を経て,近年では補助金の削減などから経営困難に直面している. 2ARMは,本来,地域社会と同義の「地理的コミュニティ」に根ざすラジオ局として想定されながら, RUNE～TUNE! FMとの競合関係の中で,十分な地域的存立基盤を確保できなかった.一方, RUNE～TUNE! FMは,通常は商業的に利用されるHPONを,非営利目的に活用している.アーミデールの小規模ラジオ局は,地域事情を反映し,役割の棲み分けを行っており,その実態は,「コミュニティ」をめぐるオーストラリアの放送制度の想定に忠実に沿ったかたちとはなっていない.

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This paper outlines an extensive field research of denim jeans production in the Setouchi district in Japan. A special emphasis is placed on how 'flexible specialization' functions in the district so that the agglomeration of small specialist companies can realize creative product prototyping, surrounded by uncertain environments on both supply and demand sides. There is a general belief that horizontal specialist networks provide more flexible production capabilities under high uncertainty, compared to traditional keiretsu networks where product prototyping and mass manufacturing processes are hierarchically coordinated by large flagship companies. However, our field research in the past years has found that hierarchical aspects amongst small specialist companies still remain facing ever fiercer environmental uncertainties. Such small companies, on the one hand, lose their former flagship companies which shift their production venues out of the district under the pressures from low-cost foreign manufacturers. Focused on less price-sensitive and more demanding consumers, domestic production networks are now in the trial and error process of transforming themselves into horizontal specialist networks and conduct creative product prototyping on their own. On the other hand, simply due to their inexperience in product prototyping, certain hierarchical aspects persist, since they make tremendous efforts to find new flagship companies who complement inadequate prototyping capabilities of the specialist companies. At the same time, however, such aspects seem to presume a certain range of variations facing high uncertainty, which seems to be adaptively rational from an evolutionary perspective. In order to formalize the functions which new flagship companies may play, this paper employs Knight's distinction between 'uncertainty' and 'risk'. Further, traditional keiretsu systems and recent horizontal specialist networks are hypothesized as two distinctive ideal types which are good at handling 'risk' and 'uncertainty' respectively. Lastly, after reporting the difficulties which denim jeans specialist networks face in the Setouchi district, two brief case descriptions from our field research demonstrate different patterns of adaptive variations by trial and error under high uncertainty.

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中小診断士には，診断・助言を通じて中小を支援する本来の役割を果たしたうえで，社会貢献が求められる。そのため，社会貢献の充実を目的としてプロボノ活動を実践する。中小診断士によるプロボノ活動について，支援者側の見地からその可能性と課題は何かを明らかにする。プロボノの可能性として，内診断士に向けた能力開発の機会，社会に対する中小診断士の活動啓蒙などにつながると指摘する。今後検討すべき課題として，どのような・団体に展開するかという支援対象の基準，個人の域ではなく集団で活動に取り組んでいく組織化，支援活動の継続性を高める仕組み化などが挙げられると主張する。

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