我国知识产权保护面临的挑战和威胁

随着我国对外贸易的持续发展,我们面临越来越多的知识产权的挑战与威胁。知识产权保护纠纷的原因,归根结底,就是“利益”两个字。在世界产业价值链评估中,工业产品的80%利润集中在以知识产权为核心的商标、专利之上。现如今,知识产权已以成为跨国公司争夺市场、谋取更大利益的主要工具。但是,我国在知识产权方面,还相对较弱,因此,国外企业抓住这一弱点,极力打压我国出口产品。本文主要对来自外部的挑战和威胁展开分析。     

A comparison of British and Japanese industrial energy management

This paper compares methods of energy management in Japanese and British industrial companies. It is based on the premise that Japanese industry has been more successful at adopting energy conservation measures and aims to highlight differences between the two countries' approaches to energy management.
In both successful Japanese and British companies the value of energy monitoring and target setting is stressed. In Japanese companies the information gained from monitoring is pushed out to the shopfloor employees who can use the information in 'good housekeeping' campaigns. In British companies monitoring information is usually held centrally, thus reducing its usefulness in good housekeeping. The decentralisation of information in Japan, coupled with the encouragement of employee participation results in Quality Circle type exercises aimed at implementing energy conservation measures.
At the investment level of energy management co-ordination and systematic thinking is necessary in order to prevent sub-optimisation of investments. Japanese companies are notable for their very detailed explicit planning of energy management, something few if any British companies practice. This planning process, as well as encouraging employee participation through being bottom up, also encourages systematic thinking about the linkages of energy conservation investments to other parts of the business such as new plant investment and marketing.
As well as the managerial factors the legal requirement in Japan for companies with a certain energy consumption to have a qualified energy manager with certain legally defined duties helps to encourage energy conservation.     

Playing dirty or building capability? Corruption and HR training as competitive actions to threats from informal and foreign firm rivals

Research summary : We examine why a firm takes specific competitive action in nonmarket and resource‐market spaces, particularly when it perceives threats from informal and foreign competitor groups, respectively. We address this question by combining insights from competitive rivalry, strategic groups, and nonmarket strategy literatures in an emerging economy context. Specifically, we theorize how threats from informal and foreign rival firms in an emerging market influence a firm's engagement in corruption activities and its investments in HR training, respectively. We also argue that the likelihoods of such focal firm actions against competitor group threats differ, contingent on the focal firm's market and resource profiles. Results from the empirical analyses, with survey data from the Indian IT industry, provide broad support to our hypotheses. Managerial summary : Based on a World Bank dataset on the Indian IT industry, this study finds that corruption and HR training are pursued by firms in emerging economies as mindful strategies against specific types of rivals—informal and foreign firm rivals, respectively, and are not pursued simply as culturally‐based practices. Multinational companies may need to understand that domestic firms in emerging countries will engage in corruption strategically to reduce their costs and time to market of their products/services. Therefore, multinational firms may need to devise suitable strategies other than corruption to reduce their costs and time to market if they wish to compete with firms in emerging economies for customers who don't care about ethical issues and will buy a cheaper product/service that is delivered quickly. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Japanese buyers attitudes toward U.S. supply sources

This paper reports the findings of a mail survey of Japanese industrial buyers. Attitudes toward U.S. companies as supply sources were measured. Generally, Japanese buyers hold favorable attitudes but feel that U.S. firms do not practice the marketing concept in their international marketing efforts.     

Pipeline management for the acquisition of industrial projects

The management and controlling of the industrial project acquisition process, with its staged, funnel-like structure, has been neglected in empirical research so far—even though an effective acquisition process is crucial for economic success. In addition to profitability, the main goal of industrial companies is to implement a pipeline process that ensures that the pipeline is always filled with acquisition projects and results in a constant stream of orders over time. The projects considered are characterized by complexity, uniqueness, and discontinuity. Based on a large-scale survey among German industrial companies, we describe the industrial project acquisition process, where the projects mentioned above are sold on a non-continuous basis to industrial customers. We assess how the industrial project acquisition process is really structured, whether a sales funnel management is applicable and utilized by sales management to monitor and control this process, and whether a sophisticated sales funnel management contributes to enhanced economic success.     

Towards Holistic "Front Ends" In New Product Development

Any firm that hopes to compete on the basis of innovation clearly must be proficient in all phases of the new-product development (NPD) process. However, the real keys to success can be found in the activities that occur before management makes the go/no-go decision for any NPD project. In other words, the most significant benefits can be achieved through improvements in the performance of the front-end activities—product strategy formulation and communication, opportunity identification and assessment, idea generation, product definition, project planning, and executive reviews. Noting the inherent difficulty of managing the front end, Anil Khurana and Stephen R. Rosenthal discuss findings from in-depth case studies of the front-end practices in 18 business units from 12 U.S. and Japanese companies. They offer a process view of the activities that the front end comprises, and they discuss the insights that their case studies provide regarding key success factors for managing the front-end activities. The case studies involved companies in industries ranging from consumer packaged goods to electronics and industrial products. Foremost among the insights provided by the case studies is the notion that the greatest success comes to organizations that take a holistic approach to the front end. A successful approach to the front end effectively links business strategy, product strategy, and product-specific decisions. Forging these links requires a process that integrates such elements as product strategy, development portfolio, concept development, overall business justification, resource planning, core team roles, executive reviews, and decision mechanisms. The case studies suggest that firms employ two general approaches for achieving these links. Some companies rely on a formal process to lend some order and predictability to the front end. Other companies strive to foster a company-wide culture in which the key participants in front-end activities always remain focused on the following considerations: business vision, technical feasibility, customer focus, schedule, resources, and coordination. This cultural approach is more prevalent among the Japanese firms in the study; the U.S. firms tend to rely on formality of the front-end process. The case studies also suggest that the front-end approach must be compatible with the firm's product, market, and organizational contexts. For example, standardized approaches seem to work best for incremental innovations.     

Transaction costs and capability factors in dual or indirect distribution channel selection: An empirical analysis of Japanese manufacturers

This study focuses on manufacturers' selection of dual or indirect channels. Although several previous studies based on transaction cost theory investigate transaction cost factors in choosing dual or indirect channels mainly in the United States, this study examines transaction costs and capability factors for such a choice in Japan. The relationships are tested with survey data from Japanese industrial goods manufacturers (n = 429). Compared to previous studies, this study presents three important findings. First, unlike previous studies, two transaction cost factors—asset specificity and behavioral uncertainty—do not exhibit the relationships predicted by transaction cost theory. Interestingly, asset specificity is negatively related to the use of dual channels. Second, two capability factors not assessed in prior studies—market orientation capabilities and differences in channel members' capabilities—exhibit significant positive relationships with the selection of dual channels. Third, capability factors are found to be more important than transaction cost factors in explaining dual or indirect channels in Japan. This study also discusses the influence of the Japanese channel context on the results.     

The Technology Innovation System in Japan

In recent years, many pieces of the Japanese puzzle have been identified and described as lessons for Western businessmen to learn. But the pieces are part of an interlocking system and to understand the role of each piece, it's necessary to see the whole. In the Japanese technology innovation system there are many parts—companies, universities, research institutes, government—and the way they are put together is the subject of this article by Joseph MacDowall. He points out some very unique characteristics about the way the system works. But he also points out some characteristics that are very much Western in origin. This article is based on the personal observations of the author, made during in-depth discussions he held during site visits to over 20 industrial plants or to their research and development laboratories, 25 government research institutes, and at least eight Japanese universities. During the four years he lived in Japan, Mr. MacDowall participated in discussions on the subjects of research, technology, work life, and Japanese culture.     

长三角资本密集型制造业集聚与FDI的互动关系研究

结合长三角资本密集型制造业集聚与FDI分布的现状,以产业竞争力为关键切入点,逐次分析长三角资本密集型制造业集聚对FDI的影响路径以及FDI对长三角资本密集型制造业集聚的影响路径,并以日企在苏州电子信息产业的投资为例,对长三角资本密集型制造业集聚与FDI互动关系进行分析,研究结果表明,长三角资本密集型制造业集聚程度较高的行业,外资分布也较多;在长三角资本密集型制造业发展的成长阶段,FDI的进入对于产业集聚的形成起到了关键作用;随着该产业的发展进入成熟阶段,产业集聚效应进一步吸引了FDI的进入,长三角资本密集型制造业集聚与FDI之间通过产业竞争力这一间接导体产生了一种"良性循环"。     

Corporate management of productivity—An empirical study

The results are reported of a questionnaire survey of corporate managerial approaches to productivity. The sample comprised 146 large industrial companies, of which 96 were American, 25 British and 25 Japanese. Responses from the total sample were used to construct a managerial interpretation of productivity. A comparison was then conducted among the three national samples. Although productivity improvement was reported as being a matter of significant corporate concern in all three countries, greater priority was expressed by the British and Japanese than by the American managers. The British and American managerial approaches to productivity appear to be broadly similar, but with the exception that the British focus much more single-mindedly on labour productivity as the central issue. The Japanese responses convey a proactive, long-term approach to the management of productivity, with research and innovation being accorded to pre-eminent role. The implications of the findings are briefly discussed and directions for further research are suggested.     

Japanese management in Singapore: Convergence of human resource management practices

This paper discusses the transfer and adaptation of Japanese human resource management practices to Singapore. By comparing Japanese parent companies, their subsidiary companies in Singapore, and comparable local Singaporean companies, the modifications to the practices of the Japanese parent companies and the adoption of local practices by Japanese management are made evident. The findings seem to uphold both the convergence and the contingency theses.Dr. Chong Li Choy is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Management, National University of Singapore. Prof. Hem C. Jain is from the Faculty of Administration, University of New Brunswick.     

Where are the Japanese? Japanese information and communications firms in an internetworked world

A decade ago Japanese information and communications (ICT) companies were perceived as posing a significant competitive threat to their Western competitors. Now they are perceived as being in a state of crisis and decline. Have Japanese ICT firms collapsed? Are they to be written off in the global competitive race? This paper examines these questions in two ways: by analysing the strengths and weaknesses of Japanese competencies in the computer, telecommunications equipment, semiconductor, and consumer electronics sectors; and by examining how well they have adapted to the radical change constituted by the emergence of the Internetworked World. Particular attention is paid to the specific case of Japanese consumer electronics and the Sony success story. The paper ends with an examination of the implications of the current crises facing these Japanese firms and their corporate restructuring responses. Several predictions are made regarding the future. The other companies discussed include Fujitsu, Hitachi, Matsushita, NEC, and Toshiba.     

Knowledge management capabilities in R&D: a UK‐‐Japan company comparison

This paper uses a 'knowledge‐based' approach to compare the management of R&D in two leading chemicals companies, one British (ICI plc) and one Japanese. It describes key differences in the ways they integrate the 'near‐market' knowledge of business units and the scientific knowledge and technical expertise of R&D personnel in central R&D facilities. It shows that the same management practices that underpin superior 'integrative capabilities' in the Japanese firm, including central funding of R&D, job‐rotation and career structures and multidisciplinary project teams, also result in significant R&D weaknesses. The comparison demonstrates that different organisational mechanisms are needed to support (1) the development and (2) the leveraging of specialist knowledge within different innovation contexts . Firms must be able to strike a balance between integrative and specialist capabilities to get the most from their R&D. Moreover, the above characteristics which underpin these capabilities are often 'embedded' in the broader organisation making them difficult to emulate when they represent 'best‐practice' but also making them difficult to change in response to new threats and opportunities.     

Engineering careers and technology transfer: Japanese companies in the UK

This article examines two issues: first how Japanese companies recruit, train and utilise engineers in their UK transplants; secondly, how technology transfer between British and Japanese engineers is affected by career structures. It draws on questionnaire responses from 88 companies and interviews at a small number of sites.     

Customer analysis for strategy development in industrial markets

This paper reports on concepts and techniques which have been developed for analysing customers and used as an aid to assessing the strategic position of companies in industrial markets. The emphasis on supplier/customer relationships presented here derives from the interaction approach to marketing and purchasing strategy. Many industrial markets are highly concentrated, and many companies develop in conjunction with key customers in a symbiotic relationship, where strategy evolves as proposals made by either side are either accepted or rejected. To take account of this we propose a 3-stage framework for analysing customers which builds on and transforms techniques traditionally used for an analysis of products. The purpose of the analysis is to improve the allocation of scarce marketing and technical resources, to reappraise the company's competitive position with different customer groups and to ensure that key relationships are managed effectively.     

Is regulatory adoption ceremonial? Evidence from lead director appointments

Research Summary: Regulatory bodies often wrestle with the thorny question of whether to mandate a governance practice or allow for organic adoption. While mandates afford rapid diffusion, we theorize that they also result in ceremonial adoptions. Leveraging a quasi‐natural experiment, we compare adoption outcomes for a governance practice—lead director adoption—that was mandated by the NYSE but not the NASDAQ. We find that NYSE firms are more likely than NASDAQ firms to have installed a lead director as a symbolic management tactic, so their lead directors are less effectual. We also find that transient institutional investors are deceived by this symbolic management, but dedicated institutional investors are not. Managerial Summary: Shareholders and analysts often desire to see companies introduce strict governance measures, such as proxy access and independent boards. Consequently, regulatory bodies often wrestle with the thorny issue of whether and when to mandate such practices for all companies. What they might not realize is that mandates may not work as well as they seem. Although more companies adopt reform under a mandate, they do so merely as a symbolic gesture. We look at one governance reform—appointing a lead director—finding that companies who introduce this reform as a result of a mandate appoint someone that is relatively toothless. We also find, though, that savvy investors are not actually fooled by this tactic and will trade out of firms that attempt such symbolic management.     

Assessing the R&D capability of the Japanese pharmaceutical industry

According to some observers, Japan's pharmaceutical industry 'emerged as a global competitor' in the 1980s. According to others, the same firms 'face severe obstacles' in the 1990s and may 'run out of time in their internationalization efforts.' To help clarify the competitive position of the Japanese industry, this article uses an original framework and set of estimates to codify the R&D capability of the nine major Japanese pharmaceutical companies ('the nine majors') and compare it with the R&D capability of their Western counterparts. On this basis the article concludes that the majors are not yet global competitors, although several could be by the end of the decade. The estimates help to quantify what has been described as a large gap between the R&D position of the Japanese companies and the position of the top Western pharmaceutical firms.     

Does group membership matter? Evidence from the Japanese steel industry

In this study we address criticism that performance differences among strategic groups found in past research may be spurious and attributable to firm effects. The Japanese steel industry provides the setting for the study. Our analysis is based on data from the carbon steel sector of the Japanese steel industry for the periods 1980–87 and 1988–93. A one-way ANOVA indicated that the average performance of firms in the two technology-based groups in this industry—the integrated mills and the minimills—were significantly different during the two periods. Subsequently, we performed a regression analysis to examine the residual group effect after controlling for both environment and firm-specific effects. We found that even after controlling for both environment and firm-specific effects group membership was significantly associated with firm performance. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Corporate ownership and managerial short-termism: Results from a Finnish study of management perceptions

Increased media exposure to layoffs and corporate quarterly financial reporting have created arguable a common perception—especially favored by the media itself—that the companies have been forced to improve their financial performance from quarter to quarter. Academically, the relevant question is whether companies themselves feel that they are exposed to short-term pressure to perform even if it means that they have to compromise company's long-term future. This paper studies this issue using results from a survey conducted among the 500 largest companies in Finland. The results indicate that companies in general feel moderate short-term pressure, with reasonable dispersion across firms. There seems to be a link between the degree of pressure felt, and the firm's ownership structure, i.e. we find some support for the existence of potentially short-term versus long-term owners. We also find significant ownership related differences, in line with expectations, in how such short-term pressure is reflected in actual decision variables such as the investment criteria used.     

The Strategy and structure of top 100 Japanese industrial enterprises 1950–1970

This paper examines the strategic and structural development of the 100 largest Japanese manufacturing enterprises between 1950 and 1970. Unlike other studies of Japanese business the author focuses not only on some of the key differences between Western and Japanese firms such as the emergence of widely diversified industrial groups, but also on similarities. Using the model developed originally by Channon the author traces the development of diversification in Japan and the emergence of the multidivisional forms of organization which as in the West prove to be the major strategic and structural forms in Japan by 1970.