Workers' perceptions of a Japanese company's song

The Japanese company song is reputed to inspire the working morale of employees and thus contribute to overall company performance. This article investigates the psychological impact of the company song on workers by analysing the question-naire responses obtained from a group of Japanese workers. The researcher found that differences in gender and generation gap were strong explanatory variables in terms of workers' perception of non-business themes in the company song, while differences in organizational status played a significant role in explaining differences in employees' perceptions of the business-related themes. Some practical implications are also discussed.The author is from the College of Commerce and Business Administration, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.     

Predicting truck driver turnover

We propose a decision tool for truckload carriers that can help control driver turnover rates. Our approach is to use an existing econometric method, along with the drivers’ work data, to predict the quit probability of each driver on a weekly basis, so that carriers can identify a subset of drivers who are “about to quit” in a timely manner. Empirical results from two case studies indicate that our approach does a nice job of predicting driver exits, and that it may become a useful management decision tool. Our method was recently adopted by two US truckload carriers.     

Determinants of Remittances: Recent Evidence Using Data on Internal Migrants in Vietnam*

The present paper examines the determinants of remittance behavior for Vietnam using data from the 2004 Vietnam Migration Survey on internal migrants. It considers how, among other things, the vulnerability of a migrant's life at the destination, their link to relatives back home, and the time spent at the destination affect remittances. The paper finds that migrants act as risk‐averse economic agents and send remittances back to the household of origin as part of an insurance exercise in the face of economic uncertainty. Remittances are also found to be driven by a migrant's labor market earnings level. The paper highlights the important role of remittances in providing an effective means of risk‐coping and mutual support within the family.     

Global Competitive Pressures,Labour Market and Employment Issues in the Japanese Service Sector

Global competition of products and services leads to rapid changes in the economy, industry and management. Judging from the industrial employment structure in Japan, the lower prices of foreign goods and services will drive the unemployment rate up in the long run. The Japanese economy urgently requires the growth of business and job opportunities, and therefore the role of employment protection legislation should be re-examined from the viewpoint of encouraging business activities. Analysis of the case study shows that managers in the growing service sector have positive attitudes towards employment growth and the expansion of business activities if the following measures are introduced: the deregulation of redundancy dismissals, the introduction of arbitrary work with performance pay, and legislative enforcement against age discrimination for hiring and firing.     

Regulation of food safety risks: the case of food irradiation in Japan

As risk analysis becomes more important in the promulgation of international and domestic standards, scientific data and the utilization of this data as a foundation for regulations is fundamental in determining these standards. Over the past 20 years, the scientific understanding of food irradiation technology has increased significantly regarding the impact of the technology on various types of food and the potential applications. As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), acting together, announced a standard on the benefits of food irradiation in early 1980s. Despite the consensus amongst international organizations regarding the benefits of food irradiation, individual countries have not been as eager to promote this technology. Japan began an initial investigation into the applications of food irradiation over 30 years ago, yet today prohibits irradiation except for the potato. This paper examines the history of research and regulation on food irradiation in Japan, and how scientific information and other factors have influenced its regulatory policy. These factors, including industry willingness, regulatory structure and perception, are not outside exerting force on the regulations of this technology, but rather are inherently a part of the regulatory process itself, and lead to a 'vicious circle' of rigidity that closes off the opportunity to incorporate new scientific and technical information as it arises.     

International human resource management in an era of political nationalism

In times of the “Brexit” and “America First” policies, several industrialized countries' governments are turning toward more national‐oriented migration policies. Simultaneously, societal aversion to immigration is growing. Both trends are sending negative signals to highly skilled employees and making immigrants feel that they are no longer welcome. Consequently, international careers are becoming uncertain, risky, and unpredictable. This new reality in industrialized knowledge‐based economies may affect firms' talent pool and the skill set available to a country. To shed light on the new environment of international human resource management, we interviewed Mary Yoko Brannen and David Collings, leading experts in the field, to explore their perspective on how the field is changing. The interviews reported here uncover fascinating insights, including the need to counteract the globalization fears in the West of the predominantly White working and lower‐middle class through education. Companies may also rethink their organizational boundaries and the notion of traditional employees by using their agility to counteract the political forces harming their talent pool strategy.     

The Effect of the Recent Inheritance Tax Reform on Bequest Behaviour in Japan

This paper examines the behavioural response of households to wealth transfer taxation using household survey data from Japan, with particular attention being paid to the implications of different bequest motives that households may have. The data reveal that relatively few households plan to reallocate the newly taxable amount of wealth to their own consumption or inter vivos transfers in response to the recent lowering of the basic deduction of the inheritance tax. Our analysis shows that this partly reflects the fact that a relatively large share of households have no or a weak bequest motive in Japan. However, our estimation results also suggest that parents with an altruistic bequest motive are more likely to avoid an increase in their children's tax bill by reallocating the newly taxable amount of wealth to inter vivos transfers than those with no or a weak bequest motive. By contrast, parents with an exchange bequest motive are more likely to respond to the tax reform by reallocating the newly taxable amount of wealth to their own consumption, though they seem to exhibit a similar response to those with an altruistic bequest motive in some cases.     

Effects of cost sharing on the demand for physician services in Japan: Evidence from a natural experiment

In this paper, we investigate the effects of cost sharing on the demand for physician services in Japan by using a natural experiment, namely, the increase in the coinsurance rate for household heads in 1997. Our primary finding from the two-year data, which includes the transitory effects of the reform, is that the effects of the reform on the frequency of physician visits were negative and statistically significant, and that the effects of the reform on expenditures per visit were also negative. Based on these results, the arc elasticity of demand for physician services is ?0.055. When we exclude the transitory period using the three-year data, the effects of the reform on the frequency of physician visits turn to be positive. It seems that the patients marginally curtailed the number of physician visits immediately after the reform; however, this effect was not sustained in the six months after the reform. We conclude that Japanese patients are not very price sensitive within the 10–20 percent range of coinsurance rate. Another important finding in our study is that the decrease in expenditure per visit retained even after the transitory period. This result suggests that the existence of a possible moral hazard in the treatment intensity although the decision-making process on the treatment intensity needs to be examined more carefully.     

LAND USE REGULATION AS A BARRIER TO ENTRY: EVIDENCE FROM THE TEXAS LODGING INDUSTRY*

This article examines the anticompetitive effects of land use regulation using microdata on midscale chain hotels in Texas. I construct a dynamic entry–exit model that endogenizes hotel chains’ reactions to land use regulation. My estimates indicate that imposing stringent regulation increases costs considerably. Hotel chains nonetheless enter highly regulated markets even if entry probabilities are lower, anticipating fewer rivals and hence greater market power. Consumers incur the costs of regulation indirectly in the form of higher prices.