Pioneering advantages in manufacturing and service industries: empirical evidence from nine countries

Although one might expect differences between manufacturing and service firms in pioneering advantages, the extent of these differences has not yet been investigated. This is the first cross‐national study that compares such differences in nine countries/regions: the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Singapore. We develop several hypotheses concerning the perceptions of managers of manufacturing firms and service firms regarding the benefits and post‐entry risks of pioneering, and the cost and differentiation advantages accruing to the pioneering firm. We test the hypotheses with data from 2,419 firms representing all nine countries and both industrial sectors. We find that: (1) managers from all countries perceive pioneering to be associated with higher market share and/or profitability; (2) manufacturing firm managers perceive pioneering risks to be significantly more important than do service firm managers; (3) cost and differentiation advantages of pioneering are, for the most part, more significant to manufacturing than to service firm managers; (4) Western manufacturing firm managers perceive the cost advantages to be more important than Asian Pacific manufacturing firm managers. We conclude by presenting the managerial implications of our findings. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inventive efficiency: How the U.S. compares with Japan

This study argues that inventive (R&D) efficiency may be an important factor in the competition for global market shares and goods and services. The authors compare R&D efficiency for 14 industrial groups in the United States and Japan using multiple indices of inventive efficiency. Findings show interesting differences in inventive efficiency across industrial groups and between the United States and Japan. United States food, textile, chemical, rubber, metals, fabricated metals, and other miscellaneous manufacturing industries appear to be relatively more efficient in inventive efficiency than their Japanese counterparts. In contrast, Japanese paper, petroleum, machinery, and scientific equipment industries display greater inventive efficiency than their United States counterparts. The electrical equipment, transportation, and stone industries in the two countries appear to be equally efficient. The implications of these differences are discussed.     

A Cross‐National Comparative Study of Senior Management Policy,Marketing–Manufacturing Involvement,and Innovation Performance

The marketing–manufacturing interface is important to the success of product development. This research investigates the effect of senior management policies on the effectiveness of the marketing–manufacturing interface. Based on existing literature, a conceptual framework is developed that relates senior management policies, marketing–manufacturing involvement, and new product performance. The proposed framework is contingent on the national culture of the country in which product development occurs. Structural equation modeling is used to test the framework with data from a sample of 146 U.S. marketing managers and 185 Japanese marketing managers. The results suggest that a number of senior management policies are effective in promoting joint involvement between the marketing and manufacturing functions during the innovation process. While the use of formal cross‐functional integration policies was found to promote marketing–manufacturing involvement both in the United States and Japan, team leader autonomy, team rewards, and job rotation were found to promote marketing involvement in the United States but not in Japan. On the other hand, promoting marketing–manufacturing involvement via goal clarity and promotion of teamwork proved to be effective in Japan. The results have a number of implications for product development practice. Foremost among these is the finding that, despite the fundamental ideological differences separating the marketing and manufacturing functions, senior management policies can enhance the level of marketing–manufacturing involvement, and consequently can improve the likelihood of new product success. The second implication is that the effectiveness of specific senior management policies depends on national culture. Thus, managers wishing to improve the marketing–manufacturing interface should select the policies that match the culture in which the product development project is located.     

Measuring efficiency and ICT ecosystem impact: Hardware vs. software industry

The ICT industry is reshaping itself through convergence and coopetition across the ecosystem. In particular, many ICT companies have been trying to achieve both hardware and software capabilities to accelerate innovation. To understand the changes in the ICT industry, we empirically study the hardware and software industries using the ecosystem framework. We estimate the efficiency levels of the hardware and software industries in China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States (US) using stochastic frontier analysis and meta frontier analysis, and we examine the effects of the ICT ecosystem structure on efficiency levels using a Tobit regression. We find that the US, which is the global ICT leader, performs significantly better than other countries, with the biggest technology gap ratios in both hardware and software, and South Korea, which has the most hardware-centric industrial structure among the four countries, has the biggest efficiency gap between the hardware and software industries. Tobit results further reveal that a well-balanced ecosystem is important in achieving high efficiency in both hardware and software, and the effect is much higher in the software industry than in the hardware industry.     

Research on the interface factor in the development and utilization of new technology

The interface factor in the development and utilization of new technology is analyzed with questionnaire surveys. The interface factor is found to determine R&D performance in a study of large manufacturing companies in the United States and in a study of computer utilization performance in commercial banks in the United States. A comparison of the interface factor in the functioning of R & D in the United States and Japan suggests that interface problems may be less serious in Japan. Company experience is reported which indicates that the interface function can be controlled by management policies, procedures and practices. The need for greater attention to the interface factor by executives and by researchers on R & D management is a conclusion which follows from the findings presented in this paper.     

Research on the interface factor in the development and utilization of new technology

AbstractThe interface factor in the development and utilization of new technology is analyzed with questionnaire surveys. The interface factor is found to determine R&D performance in a study of large manufacturing companies in the United States and in a study of computer utilization performance in commercial banks in the United States. A comparison of the interface factor in the functioning of R & D in the United States and Japan suggests that interface problems may be less serious in Japan. Company experience is reported which indicates that the interface function can be controlled by management policies, procedures and practices. The need for greater attention to the interface factor by executives and by researchers on R & D management is a conclusion which follows from the findings presented in this paper.     

Passing the food and agricultural R&D buck? The United States and China

The global geographical balance of food and agricultural R&D spending is shifting, characterized by a declining U.S. share and a rising middle-income-country share, propelled heavily by the rapid rise of spending in China. Based on our newly compiled data, we estimate that China now outspends the United States on both public and private food and agricultural research on a purchasing power parity basis. The public-private orientation of the research has also changed markedly, with the private sector now accounting for around two-thirds of the food and agricultural R&D spending total in both China and the United States. Our estimates indicate that China’s private sector tilts heavily towards post-farm R&D activities, whereas the U.S. private sector is split more evenly between on-farm and post-farm spending. While the intensity of Chinese investment in food and agricultural R&D (relative to agricultural GDP) is beginning to grow, it still lags well behind the food and agricultural R&D investment intensities of the United States and other higher-income Asian countries (e.g., Japan and South Korea). The development regularities we reveal in the longer-run trends are indicative of future R&D investment patterns with potentially profound long-run implications for the size, shape and accessibility of the global stocks of scientific knowledge that underpin food and agricultural sectors worldwide.     

Letter From the Editor

This paper compares the United States depreciation rules, corporate income tax rates, and investment tax credits with the seven countries that have the highest direct investment from the U.S. These countries are Australia, Canada. France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. For illustrative purposes, two comparative examples for computer systems and manufacturing equipment are included.     

Perceptions of products made in Japan versus those made in the United States among Japanese and American executives: A longitudinal perspective

This research reports on a longitudinal survey approach in which American and Japanese executives were queried regarding their perceptions of products made in the United States and Japan over a period of 15 years. Three surveys were conducted by mail in the United States using home country executives in 1977, 1991 and 1992. One survey was conducted in Japan in 1992 using Japanese executives and is compared to the findings of Nagashima (1977). Results show that over the past 15 years, the image of American goods has been declining both in the United States and Japan, whereas that of Japanese goods has been improving. These results offer an alternative product image/attribute-based perspective as an explanation of the United States trade deficit with Japan. Over the past year, survey results also reveal that the image of Japanese goods in the United States has suffered. This finding suggests that the image of a country's products is changeable, surprisingly even in a short period of time.     

Estimating and comparing learning curves in three Asian economies

This paper consists of two parts. In the first, a method is suggested to isolate the effects of scale economies on learning phenomena by integrating the conventionally specified learning curve with the production function in neoclassical economics. The problem of establishing the variable for measuring experience is dealt with in the estimation procedure. Using this method we estimated the learning curves of 20 industries in the manufacturing sector in Singapore using data taken from 1961 to 1991. More modern industries like electronics, precision instruments and pharmaceutics have steeper learning curves than older industries. Among traditional industries, the food and beverage industry has a greater learning potential than others. In the second part of the paper, the learning curves for 11 common industries in South Korea, Japan and Singapore were estimated and compared. The Japanese industries are found to have steeper learning curves compared to those in Singapore and South Korea.The authors are from the Department of Business Policy, Faculty of Business Administration, National University of Singapore. The authors would like to thank Ms Tan Mui Lee for her assistance in preparing the time series data used for this study.     

Evolving beef export market access requirements for age and source verification

We analyze the economic impacts of changes in age and source verification requirements and associated adjustments in international trade of US beef using an equilibrium displacement model. Because the United States lags behind many countries in adopting animal traceability systems, the United States risks losing export market access. The loss of an export market the size of South Korea’s would cause a decline of US meat industry producer surplus of $1751 million over 10 years or 0.23% of its10-year cumulative discounted present value. Additionally, we find that only small increases in US beef exports would be necessary to offset direct costs associated with adoption of age and source verification.     

Lessons from broadband development in Canada,Japan, Korea and the United States

Broadband network development does not always track closely a nations overall wealth and economic strength. The International Telecommunication Union reported that in 2005 the five top nations for broadband network market penetration were: Korea, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Denmark and Canada. The ITU ranked the United States sixteenth in broadband penetration.Aside from the obvious geographical and demographic advantages accruing to small nations with large urban populations, broadband development thrives when it becomes a national priority. Both developed and developing nations have stimulated capital expenditures for infrastructure in ways United States public and private sector stakeholders have yet to embrace. Such investments have accrued ample dividends including the lowest broadband access costs in the world. For example, the ITU reports that in 2002 Japanese consumers paid $0.09 per 100 kilobits per second of broadband access compared to $3.53 in the United States.Economic policies do not completely explain why some nations offer faster, better cheaper and more convenient broadband services while other nations do not. This paper will examine best practices in broadband network development with an eye toward determining the optimal mix of legislative, regulatory and investment initiatives. The paper will track development in Canada, Japan and Korea as these nations have achieved success despite significantly different geographical, political and marketplace conditions. The paper also notes the institutional and regulatory policies that have hampered broadband development in the United States.The paper also will examine why incumbent local exchange and cable television operators recently have begun aggressively to pursue broadband market opportunities. The paper will analyze incumbents’ rationales for limited capital investment in broadband with an eye toward determining the credibility of excuses based on regulatory risk and uncertainty. The paper concludes with suggestions how national governments might expedite broadband infrastructure development.     

日本和韩国液化天然气进口探析

日本、中国、韩国液化天然气(LNG)进口量分别为世界前三位。近几年,日本LNG进口量呈稳中有降的变化趋势,韩国规划大力发展天然气消费。日本、韩国的LNG接收站规模分别居全球前两位。日本和韩国在LNG接收站定位、产业链延伸、获取资源模式上存在相似性,包括投资LNG上游项目,建造并运营LNG运输船,合力布局LNG产业,但在LNG基础设施建设和商业模式方面各有特点,各自形成了独特的发展策略。面对"亚洲溢价",两国在推行区域交易中心、调整资源配置、提升买方议价能力上进行了探索与尝试。借鉴日本和韩国LNG进口模式,对中国LNG进口提出建议:鼓励国内企业参与海外LNG采购;从天然气立法角度发布国内LNG产业政策;加强交易中心建设;调配LNG采购资源池;做强LNG运输船队。     

Antecedents and Consequences of Goal Incongruity on New Product Development in Five Countries: A Marketing View

This article examines an important challenge to effective cross-functional integration: goal incongruity among marketing, research and development (R&D), and manufacturing in new product development. We examine the effect of this incongruity as perceived by the marketing function on three components of cross-functional integration: the harmony of cross-functional relationships, the quality of cross-functional information, and the level of cross-functional involvement. We also examine how two types of managerially controllable variables affect goal incongruity: (1) factors that motivate functions to develop common goals; and (2) factors that facilitate the formation of such goals. We give special attention to the effect of national culture on the formation of common goals. Data collected from marketing managers in 1,083 firms in five culturally distinct areas—-the United States, Great Britain, Japan, Hong Kong (a special administrative region of China), and mainland China—are used to test the hypothesized relationships. Our results underscore the importance of people-side issues, and of national culture, in cross-functional integration. Perceived goal incongruity among marketing, R&D, and manufacturing impairs all three components of cross-functional integration. In United States and British firms, goal incongruity generally is attributed to motivational factors and in Japan and Hong Kong to facilitative factors. Finally, our results show that the two types of managerially controllable variables interact. For example, joint rewards and job rotation strengthen each other's tendency to reduce goal incongruity in all five samples. This suggests that job rotation promotes the development of joint goals more effectively when it is accompanied by a joint reward system.     

Likely gains from market timing in Japan

This paper explores the potential gains and required predictive ability of market timing in Japan and then compares the results to previously reported findings from another developed financial market — the United States — and a developing Asia Pacific financial market — Singapore. Shifts between cash equivalents and common stocks are evaluated. The results demonstrate that the potential gains from market timing in Japan are quite attractive and that the minimum predictive accuracy required for successful market timing may be attainable by some portfolio managers. However, for the period examined, the results also indicate that larger incremental gains result from market timing Singapore stocks and cash equivalents.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Second Annual Pacific Basin Finance Conference in Seoul, Korea in 1991. The author appreciates the helpful comments of Lim Kian Guan and two anonymous referees.     

Changes in South Korean consumers’ preferences for meat

This study analyzes the South Korean meat demand system, and the empirical results show that there are two statistically significant structural changes in Korean consumers’ meat preferences, respectively in August 1998 and October 2001. The first break point is related to the Asian financial crisis and the second one coincides with the BSE outbreak in Japan. This implies that South Korean consumers reacted by taking defensive actions to lower their level of health risk by responding to a myriad of mass media reports regarding the Japanese BSE outbreak, although there was no case of BSE in South Korea.     

Lesser evil? Public opinion on regulating fake news in Japan,South Korea,and Thailand – A three-country comparison

This study quantitatively examines and compares public opinion on regulating fake news, and factors affecting the opinion in three Asian countries: Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. Based on the third-person effect, it is hypothesised that the perceived harm of fake news on society increases people's support for fake news regulation. In parallel, according to the lesser evil principle, it is also anticipated that people will be less supportive of regulating fake news if they are aware that there are other non-regulatory counter fake news solutions such as fact-checking. Using original survey data collected from the three countries (n = 5218) and multi-group SEM, it is found that while the first hypothesis holds for all three countries, the second one holds only for Japan and South Korea (the two mature democracies), but not for Thailand (the semi-democratic country). This finding implies that the lesser evil principle also applies in Asian countries, but only in mature democracies where freedom of speech is protected.     

Increasing Convergence Between U.S. and International Securitized Property Markets: Evidence Based on Cointegration Tests

This article examines the degree of interdependence among the securitized property markets of six major countries and the United States. Long-run results indicate that, over a period beginning January 1990 and ending August 2007, the property markets of Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States are tied together, implying that from the perspective of the U.S. investor the markets of the Netherlands and France provide the greater diversification benefits. Further, the United States and Japan are found to be the sources of the common trends, suggesting that the two larger property markets lead the five (cointegrated) markets toward the long-run equilibrium relationships.     

How to measure company productivity using value-added: A focus on Pohang Steel (POSCO)

How should the performance of a manufacturing company be assessed, relative to firms making similar products, at home and abroad? This paper shows how company-level productivity measures can be developed from public financial data to provide a more comprehensive gauge of firm performance than profit rates alone. As a specific example, we focus on the Korean steelmaker, POSCO. Founded four decades ago, POSCO is commonly regarded as the world’s most efficient and profitable integrated steel producer, and our analysis documents POSCO’s superior record of profitability and labor productivity. We find, however, that a broader assessment of POSCO’s performance is tempered by the firm’s high capital intensity relative to producers in Japan and the United States.