Qualitative and quantitative studies of leadership in multinational settings: Meta-analytic and cross-cultural reviews

Much of the research on leadership has been conducted by Western researchers and has led to a largely Western and individualistic perspective on leadership. This has led researchers to raise questions concerning the extent to which these theories apply globally. In particular, do Western theories of leadership apply to the same extent in more communal Asian countries, such as Japan, China, Indonesia, and Thailand? Based on leadership studies conducted in Japan, we argue that Japanese leadership practices often differ from the styles practiced widely in the West. These differences in behavior have their roots in Japanese cultural traditions and business practices. Our conclusion is based on the results of meta-analyses of studies of the five most popular leadership theories used in the West, an empirical study of transformational and gatekeeper leadership, and in-depth qualitative case studies of three Japanese corporate leaders. We observe that there are relatively few qualitative studies of leaderships in international contexts, and propose that in order to understand leadership phenomena in a global context, it is necessary to take a triangulation approach, employing surveys, experimental manipulations, company records, and qualitative interviews.     

Productivity dispersion: facts,theory, and implications

This paper discusses the stylized facts, the theory, and the remaining problems of productivity dispersion, which is essentially related to the concept of equilibrium in the neoclassical theory. Empirical study of data relating to Japanese firms shows that they all obey the Pareto law, and also that the Pareto index decreases with the level of aggregation. In order to explain these two stylized facts we propose a theoretical framework built on the basic principle of statistical physics and on the concept of superstatistics, an approach that accommodates fluctuations of aggregate demand. We show that the allocation of production factors depends crucially on the level of aggregate demand, and that the higher the level of aggregate demand, the closer the economy is to the frontier of the production possibility set.     

Usefulness of the Information Contained in the Prediction Sample for the Spatial Error Model

A recent study proposed an estimation approach that uses data on the independent variables and location for the prediction sample, and suggested that it may improve estimation and prediction. This is an incomplete data approach following an iterative process along the lines of the EM algorithm. The present study compares this approach with a partial data approach that uses only data on the dependent and independent variables and location for the estimation sample. Our Monte Carlo experiments show that unless the estimation and prediction samples constitute the whole population and the data generating model is used as the data fitting model, the incomplete data approach is not guaranteed to be superior to the partial data approach.     

Relationship between Managerial Compensation and Business Performance in Japan: New Evidence Using Micro Data*

This paper examines the relationship between the level of managerial compensation and the quality of corporate governance in Japan in the period following the bubble burst of 1991–1995. There are three main findings. First, Japanese firms with weaker governance have greater agency problems in that managerial opportunism extracts higher compensation and the firm performs relatively worse. Second, these agency problems were more severe during the recessionary period of 1994–1995. Finally, governance structures in industries with higher managerial compensation are relatively weaker than in other industries.     

Risk premia in international equity markets revisited

Recent evidence suggests that global equity markets are becoming more risky. We develop a model to explain risk premia in international equity markets. The model is then used to investigate the changing nature of conditional risk premia and their effect on unconditional global risk. Using this model we find that the increase in international variance and covariance of realized excess returns can be attributed to systematic variations in global risk premia correlated across markets as well. Understanding this additional source of increased global correlation is important. These results have interest both for practitioners and for those interested in modeling global asset prices.     

Founders’ human capital and external knowledge sourcing: Exploring the absorptive capacity of start-up firms

ABSTRACT

This study highlights the importance of founders’ human capital on firms’ absorptive capacity for explaining the external knowledge sourcing (licensing-in and joint R&D) of start-up firms, using panel data from original questionnaire surveys conducted in Japan. The results of a probit model with an endogenous regressor show that firms managed by founders with a high level of specific human capital, measured as prior innovation experience and industry-specific work experience, tend to engage in external knowledge sourcing because of their superior absorptive capacity. The findings indicate that this type of human capital also promotes research and development (R&D) investment. Contrariwise, this study finds that firms managed by founders with a high level of general human capital, measured as educational attainment, tend to invest more in R&D, which enhances their absorptive capacity and thereby promotes external knowledge sourcing. Finally, the implications of these findings are discussed from the perspective of public policy.     

Management Accounting Practices in the U.S. and Japan: Comparative Survey Findings and Research Implications*

In recent years, the success of Japanese firms in the global market has prompted efforts to understand the sources of their competitive advantage. It has been suggested that one such source is the Japanese firms' management accounting systems, and a number of articles have claimed that important differences do exist between U.S. and Japanese firms in this area. However, these claims have tended to be supported by anecdotal, rather than systematic, evidence. The objective of this article is to contribute further insights into similarities and differences between U.S. and Japanese firms' management accounting practices. Exhaustive searches of published surveys in the U.S. and Japanese literatures (much of which is in Japanese) provided the basis for U.S.-Japan comparisons on six aspects of management accounting practices. In turn, these comparisons were used for deriving implications for future research. Two major limitations of extant research and, thus, directions for future research are identified. First, future research needs to go beyond the simple use or non-use of techniques to investigate more detailed aspects of technique use. Second, since management accounting is only one component of a firm's total management system, attention also needs to be devoted to the organizational context, process, and goals of a firm's management accounting practices.     

Non-Dummy Agents in Pure Exchange Economies

We introduce a very fundamental and important axiom of the non-dummy. This states that each agent can change the outcome of the mechanism at some preference profile, thus guaranteeing every agent the minimum right to affect the social decision. We study the possibility of strategy-proof, efficient and non-dummy mechanisms in pure exchange economies. We provide two new interesting classes of such mechanisms. The results shed light on the structure of strategy-proof and efficient mechanisms, and should promote a complete characterization of those mechanisms in pure exchange economies with three or more agents.     

Multiple equilibria and structural transition of non-monocentric urban configurations

A model of non-monocentric urban land use is presented, which requires neither employment nor residential location to be specified a priori. It is shown that the model is capable of yielding multicentric pattern as well as monocentric and dispersed patterns, and that the model generally yields multiple equilibria under each fixed set of parameter values. It is also shown that the city may undergo a catastrophic structural transition when the parameters take critical values.