A comparative analysis of new product development by Italian and Japanese manufacturing companies: A case study

Based on survey data from Italian and Japanese companies, six measurement scales are developed for practices, process, strategic guide, and capabilities for new product development as potential determinants of its financial performance, that is, attainment of profit goals and revenue goals. By employing a regression model with a country dummy variable, the differential determinants of financial goals attainment between Italian and Japanese samples are estimated. A significant difference can be found in the impact of new product development capabilities on profit goals attainment only. Then, we evaluate the level of improvement in explanatory power by dividing the pooled sample into two and enabling regression coefficients to take different values, and find no evidences of the significant improvement. Technology and marketing capabilities concerning new product development are demonstrated to be overwhelmingly important to financial performance.     

How useful is yet another data-driven bandwidth in long-run variance estimation?: A simulation study on cointegrating regressions

This paper investigates how bandwidth choice rules in long-run variance estimation affect finite-sample performance of efficient estimators for cointegrating regression models. Monte Carlo results indicate that Hirukawa's (2010) bandwidth choice rule contributes bias reduction in the estimators.     

Quality management practices and competitive performance: Empirical evidence from Japanese manufacturing companies

This paper presents the results of an empirical study on the relationship between quality management practices and competitive performance in Japanese manufacturing companies. The data was gathered from two surveys including the common sample of twenty-seven Japanese manufacturing companies in the 1990s and the 2000s. Statistical techniques are used to compare the degree of implementation of the eleven quality management practices and their impact on different dimensions of competitive performance between two periods. Findings of this study highlight the stability and consistency of the Japanese quality management, which can be used as one of the strategic weapons for maintaining competitive advantage of Japanese manufacturing companies.     

Industrial Concentration Reverses the Timing in a Trade Policy Game

Faced with an export subsidy by a foreign government, importing countries have to decide whether they should impose countervailing duties or not. Using a Cournot duopoly model, Collie (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv 130: 191–209) shows that the subgame perfect equilibrium occurs when the importing country sets its production subsidy and tariff at stage one and the foreign government sets its export subsidy at stage two. That is, an importing country will choose to commit itself not to use countervailing duties. In this paper, we extend Collie's duopoly model to the case of a Cournot oligopoly and show that the country in which industry is less concentrated tends to emerge as the Stackelberg leader.     

Factor Price Equalization under Imperfect Competition

The paper describes a class of imperfectly competitive world economies for which factor price equalization is inevitable. Specifically, it is shown that factor price equalization must prevail if the trading economies differ at most in scale, if they share a constant-returns no-joint-products technology, and if each oligopolistic industry produces a commodity which, directly or indirectly, is internationally tradable.     

Information Technology and the Performance of Japanese SMEs

This paper examines the impact of investment in information technology (IT) on the performance of Japanese firms. My findings imply that there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between IT and firm profitability and innovation, but only for small firms. These results underscore the importance of investment in IT for small companies. The acceptance of IT by this sector is fundamental to the success of structural adjustment in the Japanese economy.     

Welfare‐improving Coordinated Tariff and Sales Tax Reforms under Imperfect Competition

This paper studies the welfare effects of coordinated domestic sales tax reform associated with a reduction of the import tariff under imperfect competition. We set up a simple oligopoly trading model where domestic and exporting firms compete in the home market. We show that, if the initial levels of import tariff and sales tax are positive, there always exist welfare‐improving sales tax reforms. In some cases, a reduction of the sales tax accompanied by a reduction of the import tariff increases social welfare, whereas in other cases, raising the sales tax can increase social welfare.     

Enterprise modeling and integration: A stochastic management approach

Recently, my book by Matsui has been published in Japanese, and the title is “Management of Manufacturing Enterprise: Profit Maximization and Factory Science.” Enterprise/Factory Science means the system science of the 3M & I, in which is the complex of huMan, Material/Machine, Money and Information, and would contribute to enterprise modeling and integration issues. This paper presents the problem of enterprise/factory science, and discusses a class of 3M & I system by a stochastic management approach. First, the 3M & I system is defined, and a variety vs. structure is introduced. Next, the two structures of management are distinguished, and the demand-to-supply and process-cycle management are discussed by structural modeling.     

Strong Currency and Weak Currency

This paper presents a two-country model in which two currencies compete with each other. There exists an equilibrium in which the two currencies with different rates of inflation circulate as media of exchange despite neither currency being required to be used for transactions. Taxes payable in local currency and asymmetric injection of fiat money by the government through purchases of a certain good generate demands even for the currency with a higher inflation rate. In such an equilibrium, the government that issues the currency with a lower rate of inflation collects seigniorage not only from its own residents but from the residents of the other country provided that the rate of inflation is positive. The strong currency in the sense of a low inflation rate becomes an international medium of exchange. Policy games, in which the two governments simultaneously choose and commit to tax rates and inflation rates, are also examined. We show, among other things, that the equilibrium rate of inflation is zero in this policy game. In other words, unlike a common argument, the rate of inflation does not go below zero. This result is due to the fact that a negative rate of inflation induces a negative amount of seigniorage andvice versa. Some alternative currency regimes are examined. Even for a country with a weak currency, abandonment of its currency leads to a lower level of welfare. Monetary unions are briefly discussed as well.J. Japan. Int. Econ., Dec. 199812(4), pp. 305–333. University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.