The Effectiveness of Social Media for Business Activities in Japanese Firms

A large number of firms use social media for various business activities. This paper clarifies how social media has become effective to sales in Japanese firms. To this purpose, the following are addressed: (i) whether social media is useful for company activities, (ii) what kinds of business activities are affected using social media, and (iii) how social media improves the final outcomes of sales for firms. This study uses data of business activities and social media conducted in 2014. Probit analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) are employed. Probit analysis clarifies the relationships between the effects of social media and its use in sales. The SEM model clarifies the relationships among the effects of social media use in business. In the SEM, a model is examined by taking sales caused by use of social media as an explained variable, while the explanatory variables are the first and intermediate effects of social media. The results indicate that social media is effective for business activities such as promoting sales. This study may help to promote social media in Japanese firms.     

Globalization of Information Services and the Industrial Structure of the Japanese Economy

Since the late 1990s, ICT has rebuilt organizational networks by connecting value chains and providing communication networks. This made certain types of services tradable, including information services. This change raised the public concern in terms of the effect on employment and innovation capacity in developed economies. The fragmentation of the production network of information services has been led by US firms, but is spreading to East Asia, typically in outsourcing from Japan to China, India and the ASEAN countries. This study empirically assesses the effect of offshore outsourcing on employment in Japan, specifying trading partners. The results show that information services outsourcing affects employment in the manufacturing sector in Japan, but the effect is different depending on trading partners. This study discusses the implications from the viewpoint of industry policy, relating the results to outsourced business processes.     

A Conjoint Analysis of a Next Generation Network (NGN) in Japan

A conjoint analysis on a Web survey in 2010 with 160 participants and 8 questions shows that a Marginal Willingness To Pay (MWTP) on a Next Generation Network (NGN) of Flet’s Hikari Next is lower than its actual price as provided by NTT East. Conjoint analysis is one application of conditional logit. MWTP is WTP when one unit of property is increased, and MWTP is used to verify how much each person evaluates each property. Higher transmission speed, digital TV availability, and higher Internet security affect the MWTP positively, and the amount of the monthly payment of NGN affects the MWTP negatively. Therefore, it is assumed that the NGN of Flet’s Hikari Next by NTT East will be accepted by potential customers and diffused as a major communications service of NTT East and NTT West. NGN providers may be able to maximize their benefits by adjusting the NGN of Flet’s Hikari Next property to meet customer demands, especially in digital TV availability, higher transmission speed, and communications security.     

An Advertising Strategy Using Consumption Externality and Forgetting in the Case of Japanese Electronic Books

We construct a two-period model in which a consumer recognizes the existence of goods after advertised by firms, and total sales of the first period affect the utility of each consumer’s purchase in the second period, indicating a consumption externality. Some consumers see advertisements in the first period and remember the product, whereas some forget the product in the second period. We show that the advertising volume changes given the differences in the forgetting rate. In particular, we apply our method to the data on Japan’s electronic books obtained through a conjoint analysis survey to clarify that a better strategy is to sell a product to a small number of people at a low price or to lower the price to a certain level during the early period, and then to sell the product to a specific consumer segment at a higher price after reflecting the externality.     

Facebook Content Strategies and Citizens’ Online Engagement: The Case of Greek Local Governments

This paper analyzes the communication strategies used by Greek local governments through the utilization of Web 2.0 technologies, specifically Facebook, and the effectiveness of these strategies in relation to citizens’ online engagement. More specifically, it examines Facebook communication strategies and levels of citizens’ engagement. For this purpose, we conducted a content analysis on the active and official Facebook pages of local municipalities in Greece from January 2017 until the end of September 2017. Our results suggest a rise in the percentage of active Facebook pages maintained by local governments in comparison to our 2014 study. Our results also show that local governments in Greece are using Facebook in a predominantly top-down manner to promote events organized by the municipality and to push one-way information to citizens about their services and actions. Local authorities have, however, made significant progress in relation to posts that support transparency and accountability and that enhance or mobilize citizens’ participation. Our evaluation of local government Facebook strategies indicates that marketing the municipality to external public, such as tourists, and providing information about services are effective strategies that drive citizens’ online attitude expression (liking), engagement (commenting), and advocacy behavior (sharing). According to our analysis, local governments in Greece prefer the strategies that we found to be the least engaging. In addition, our study provides interesting details of how specific characteristics and modes of Facebook messages (photos, videos, URLs, hashtags, and mentions) impact on citizens’ engagement. Finally, our results provide valuable insights for social media managers in local government who aim to increase the impact of their municipal Facebook pages.     

A Microsimulation Model for Projections of Japanese Socioeconomic Structure

The Integrated Analytical Model for Household Simulation (INAHSIM) is a microsimulation model for the Japanese population that was first developed in the 1980s as a tool for household simulation. This study attempted to improve the conventional INAHSIM in order to construct a more comprehensive alternative that incorporates a larger number of social and economic elements. It also overcame the problem for simulation—the lack of kinship relations in the initial population—by imputing parent-child relationships between those parents and children who do not live together. This paper provides an overview of INAHSIM and adds certain details of the imputation that is essential for simulating the life event of “adult children resettling to care for their aged parents.” In addition, I will show the importance of the said life event in Japan by comparing the difference in the family type of elderly people between its future distribution with or without this life event. Finally, I will discuss the future possibilities for research on microsimulation models that will play an important role in policy making.     

3W咖啡馆：这里是互联网人的社交圈子

3W咖啡馆位于中关村西区。咖啡馆成立那天,2011年8月6日,也是互联网诞生20周年。虽然只有小小的门面,但每到下午,咖啡馆里就熙熙攘攘,顾客多是来找投资资金的创业者和寻找“猎物”的投资人。     

A Pricing Strategy with Consumption Externality when the Reference Group is Large

This paper provides an analysis of firms’ optimal prices when individual utility exhibits both material and other consumer effects. We construct a model and conduct an analysis in the following four steps: (1) By using a conjoint analysis of data, we set up a hierarchical Bayesian model and estimate its parameters, which are composed of individual utility functions. (2) We calculate the number of sales in each time period and derive the total sales throughout the given period. (3) We estimate the demand functions in the presence and absence of consumption externalities. (4) Finally, we calculate the profit functions and derive the optimal prices taking into account various product attributes. By applying our analysis to the book market of Japan, we find that the optimal price is lower when an externality is present than when absent. The intuition behind this result is that pricing low and selling a large number of books from an early stage increases the externality effect, yielding a higher profit for firms.     

Research Note: Analysis of the Characteristics of Victims in Information Security Incident Damages: The Case of Japanese Internet Users

In this article, the authors investigate the attributes of victims in information security incident damages for the purpose of reducing the damages. The Information-Technology Promotion Agency, Japan, in 2010, conducted an Internet survey targeted to Japanese Internet home users entitled, “Survey of awareness toward information security incidents” that is used in this article. Using micro data collected from this survey, they employed multinomial logit regression analysis to show factors affecting the user’s experience of the incidents of damage through particular incidents. They concluded that the overconfidence regarding information security knowledge increased the probability for phishing and spoofing.     

中央新影：纪录影视产业基地的文化承载

在海淀区北太平庄桥附近,有一个带着“中央”字眼的文化单位,有着宽敞的大院,葱郁的树木和有些年份的建筑物,弥漫着一种安静而又典雅的气息。在它的一侧,两栋新的的大楼已经竣工,还没正式启用。一切似乎正处于新旧交替中。     

An Internet Access Solution: MANET Routing and a Gateway Selection Approach for Disaster Scenarios

After natural and man-made disasters, the telecommunication infrastructure is usually severely damaged, thus hampering communication and rescue services. It is impossible for disaster victims to make use of communication devices such as cellular phones, iPads, or their laptops to make a connection with the outside world (Internet). With infrastructure less and decentralized features, the mobile ad hoc network (MANET) can play an important role in improving communication in post-disaster affected areas. Therefore, the important functionalities of a MANET that allow users to create dynamically configurable wireless networks without fixed infrastructure using common devices such as mobile phones is necessary. This paper reports on the development of new techniques for routing selection and gateway load balancing in MANETs. Network fairness, throughput, and packet delays are measured empirically. The proposed mechanisms can reduce network congestion and consequently improve communication in affected areas.     

Facebook e-Portfolios for Career Education Focused on Japanese Employment Practice: A Case Study

The authors propose the effectiveness of Facebook functions in the promotion of career education. In recent years, career education in Japanese universities has differed slightly from that in other countries. Japanese students are trained to be competitive in the job-hunting process; they need to obtain the technical skills and knowledge necessary to pass a company entrance examination or a university oral interview. This practice is in stark contrast with the intrinsic meaning of vocational/career education, which is the process by which students acquire the abilities and independence required by a certain industry. This meaning is manifested in the purpose of the career education program of Hokkai-Gakuen University’s Faculty of Business Administration. The program’s purpose is to foster independence in its students rather than the acquisition of skills for the job-hunting process. The professional independence of every student is important to their career development after graduating from the university. On the other hand, it is known that e-portfolios generally encourage students to record and assess their activities. To promote the activities that students tackle in the program, we introduced an e-portfolio using Facebook. This study shows the characteristics and achievements of our e-portfolio.     

从海淀文联换届选举看中国艺术的文化力量——记海淀区文学艺术界联合会第三次代表大会

在推动文化大繁荣大发展的时代背景下．海淀区文学艺术界联合会召开了第三次代表大会。会议审议通过了海淀文联工作报告．修订了《海淀区文学艺术界联合会章程》,选举产生了新一届领导机构。从一个区域的活动,我们看到了中国艺术的文化力量。     

江湖中国

中国人的＂江湖情节＂,源于许多人的自由之梦,因为人的本性是自由的,人渴望自由。 连阔如，评书艺术家。1957年被打成右派，从公众视野中消失了。《江湖丛谈》是他20世纪30年代在北京报纸上连载文章的集结，“文革”后曾以内部资料出版，这次再版，说不上有多轰动，但也引起了不少人的关注。     

The Effect of Changes in Nuptiality Behavior after the 1980s on the Poverty Rate for the Elderly in Japan -Analysis Using a Dynamic Microsimulation Model-

The social security system in Japan was developed under the premise that postwar families represented the most common type of family. A “postwar famil” refers to a family in which: (1) men and women are married; (2) husbands work as regular employees and wives are dependent homemakers; and (3) husbands and wives seldom get divorced. Therefore, the social security system is particularly generous towards dependent wives and widows. However, these premises are no longer valid because Japanese nuptiality behavior has completely changed since the 1980s. Marriage rates have decreased and divorce rates have significantly increased. Nevertheless, society still suffers from a wage inequality between men and women. As a result, the number of never-married or divorced elderly women will increase, and these women might face a serious poverty risk in the future. In this study, the author makes simulations of the living arrangements and poverty rates for the elderly in Japan and evaluates the effect of changes in nuptiality behavior on these poverty rates using a dynamic microsimulation model. The simulation results indicate that changes in nuptiality behavior will affect the poverty rate for elderly women, but not for elderly men.     

Defect Detection Using Unanimous Vote Among Mahalanobis Classifiers for Each Color Component

In manufacturing industries, product inspection is automated and the use of image data is increasingly being employed for defect detection. A manufacturing company in Japan produces an item and inspects the produced products using image data. Reducing the error rate is important in product inspection because poor inspection of products might lead to the delivery of defective products to consumers (consumer’s risk) and strict inspection increases production cost (producer’s risk). To reduce the error rate, we highlighted fault points using a two-dimensional moving range filter and discriminated defect production through a unanimous vote among Mahalanobis classifiers for each color component. For results, we achieved a lower error rate than the current system. This research is an empirical study of how to use image data in defect detection.     

Married Women’s Lifestyles in Japan: Disparities Based on the Number of Children

In order to explore the complex mechanisms of married women’s decisions in matters of childbirth, we studied empirically the relations between family size and aspects of lifestyle through a questionnaire survey administered in 2006 to married women living in the city of Suita, Japan, a suburb of Osaka. Lifestyle was taken as a complex of mutual relationships among individual (biographical, psychological) and social (socioeconomic, social support) factors, and our aim was to clarify differences in Japan in lifestyle among married women based on the number of their children. Analysis of 495 respondents showed mothers with only a single child were more self-reliant: they tend to give birth at a late age, enjoy cooperation with their husbands in family finances, be psychologically at ease, and not seek help from others in child rearing. Mothers with three or more children embody more of the traditional role for Japanese women: they tend to give birth at an early age, be reliant on their husbands financially, be less at ease psychologically, and seek others’ help in child rearing. These differences suggest that more focus on psychological, not just economic support in government policy to counteract declining fertility is an important issue for future consideration.     

The Effects of Proposals for Basic Pension Reform on the Income Distribution of the Elderly in Japan

The aging of the population in Japan is a serious problem, and the reform of the public pension scheme is a major political issue. Although the 2004 pension reform was enforced to ensure a sustainable pension system in such an aging society, people remain quite apprehensive about the pension system. Consequently, various sectors have created new proposals for pension reform to overcome these problems, and it has become a recent policy debate. The objective of this article is to prepare projections for the income distribution of households containing elderly people using the Japanese microsimulation model, INAHSIM (Integrated Analytical Model for Household Simulation), and to evaluate the effect of the proposals on the living standards of the elderly. According to the simulation results, the problem of very low pension amounts for the elderly does not appear to be growing. However, changes in co-resident families of the elderly, such as the increase in the number of people living alone, may cause a decline in their standard of living. The author points out the problems of the previously proposed reform plans and proposes an alternative reform plan based on the perspective used in this paper.     

Social Network Rebuilder: A Tool to Estimate a Social Network of Financial Crisis Propagation

The objective of this paper is to find a new method to estimate real social networks based on observed data collected by questionnaire surveys. Studies on social networks have been increasing in order to analyze social phenomena from a micro viewpoint. Most social phenomena can be explained by micro-level interactions among people. Spread of rumor and pandemics are typical example of micro interaction? However, there has not been much work on an analysis of real social networks based on observed data. This study tries to establish a methodology that exploits a genetic algorithm to rebuild a social network based on the data observed indirectly from real social networks. This paper introduces our proposed method, which allows us to rebuild a social network to some extent from degree distributions of a target real social network.     

新时代的购物革命

购物已成为人们日常生活中必不可少的休闲活动,伴随着人们生活水平的提高以及生活模式的颠覆,购物休闲化、购物时间合理化、购物方式便捷化已经成为急需解决的问题。购物是人们日常生活中必不可少的休闲活动,近年来随着人们收入水平大幅提高,购买商品和服务的数量与质量也大大增加。伴随着人们生活水平的提高以及生活模式的颠覆,购物休闲化、购物时间合理化、购物方式便捷化已经成为急需解决的问题。据北京市统计局的数据显示,2011年北京市社会商品零售总额是6900.3亿元,而在2001年仅为1593.5亿元。