Japan' New Competitive Advantage: Enterprises' Innovative Initiatives and Government's Reforms

This article is a continuation of the report "Japan's new competitive advantage. Arguments and proposals for structural reorientation" published in the "Comparative Economic Research for Central & Eastern Europe", vol. 13, no 1/2/2010, which mainly dealt with the role of the private sector's cooperation with governmental agencies. The discussion presented below is divided into four sections. Section one outlines the history of new ITC firms (mobile communications, computers) after the year 2000 and addresses innovation factors. Section two characterizes Japan's "dual economy" with respect to economic competitiveness and innovation. Section three discusses the major structural reforms (Japan Post, the Housing Loan Corporation and the Japan Highway Corporation) that were undertaken in Japan in the 21st c. Section four of the article provides final conclusions.Artykuł ten stanowi kontynuację tekstu opublikowanego w "Comparative Economic Research for Central & Eastern Europe", Tom 13, nr 1/2/2010, p.t. Nowa przewaga konkurencyjna Japonii. Argumenty i propozycje na rzecz przeorientowania struktur. Została w nim wyeksponowana rola sektora prywatnego we współpracy z agendami rządu. Artykuł składa się z czterech części. W części pierwszej przedstawiono historię nowych firm w branży teleinformatycznej (telefonia komórkowa, komputery) po 2000 roku, a także wskazano na determinanty innowacyjności. W części drugiej scharakteryzowano "podwójną ekonomię" Japonii w kontekście konkurencyjności i innowacyjności gospodarki. W części trzeciej omówiono najważniejsze reformy strukturalne w Japonii w XXI wieku: Poczty, Housing Loan Corporation oraz Japan Highway Corporation. W części czwartej artykułu zaprezentowano wnioski końcowe

From Social Simulation to Integrative System Design

As the recent financial crisis showed, today there is a strong need to gain "ecological perspective" of all relevant interactions in socio-economic-techno-environmental systems. For this, we suggested to set-up a network of Centers for integrative systems design, which shall be able to run all potentially relevant scenarios, identify causality chains, explore feedback and cascading effects for a number of model variants, and determine the reliability of their implications (given the validity of the underlying models). They will be able to detect possible negative side effect of policy decisions, before they occur. The Centers belonging to this network of Integrative Systems Design Centers would be focused on a particular field, but they would be part of an attempt to eventually cover all relevant areas of society and economy and integrate them within a "Living Earth Simulator". The results of all research activities of such Centers would be turned into informative input for political Decision Arenas. For example, Crisis Observatories (for financial instabilities, shortages of resources, environmental change, conflict, spreading of diseases, etc.) would be connected with such Decision Arenas for the purpose of visualization, in order to make complex interdependencies understandable to scientists, decision-makers, and the general public.Comment: 34 pages, Visioneer White Paper, see http://www.visioneer.ethz.c

XXQ FACTORS FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT: A SYSTEMS ECONOMICS VIEW

Modern cities turn increasingly into functional areas seeking for a balance between agglomeration forces and urban quality of life. This paper will address the issue of sustainable urban development from a quality (performance) perspective. It aims to identify the critical access factors for the highest possible quality (XXQ) of the urban economy. A plea is made for a coherent methodological approach based on a systems economic view. In addition to a sketch of recent dynamic trends in urban systems in OECD countries, it pays attention to theories on urban growth and performance. Next, five critical success conditions for a high performance of cities will be presented in a coherent urban systems economics framework. The policy lessons of the analysis will form the last part of the paper.urban development, sustainability, critical access factors, systems economics

Urban management revolution: intelligent management systems for ubiquitous cities

A successful urban management support system requires an integrated approach. This integration includes bringing together economic, socio-cultural and urban development with a well orchestrated transparent and open decision making mechanism. The paper emphasises the importance of integrated urban management to better tackle the climate change, and to achieve sustainable urban development and sound urban growth management. This paper introduces recent approaches on urban management systems, such as intelligent urban management systems, that are suitable for ubiquitous cities. The paper discusses the essential role of online collaborative decision making in urban and infrastructure planning, development and management, and advocates transparent, fully democratic and participatory mechanisms for an effective urban management system that is particularly suitable for ubiquitous cities. This paper also sheds light on some of the unclear processes of urban management of ubiquitous cities and online collaborative decision making, and reveals the key benefits of integrated and participatory mechanisms in successfully constructing sustainable ubiquitous cities

South Johor Economic Region (SJER) comprehensive development plan

South Johor Economic Region (SJER) is located in the southern part of Peninsular Malaysia and northern of Singapore; its area coverage is 221,634.1 hectare or 2,217 sq. km and population 1.4 Million. SJER includes District of Johor Bahru, Mukim of Jeram Batu, Mukim of Sg. Karang and Mukim of Serkat, Pulau Kukup (in Mukim Ayer Masin). SJER is 2.5 times size of Singapore, 48 times size of Putrajaya. Johor Bahru the capital of Johor state is located in the SJER area. Projected South Johor Authority (SJA) population by 2025 is 3 million and area of SJER covered PBT Pasir Gudang, Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru, Majlis Perbandaran Kulai and Majlis Daerah Pontian. It’s Local Authorities include are Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru, Majlis Perbandaran Johor Bahru Tengah, Majlis Perbandaran Kulai and Pasir Gudang Local Authority

Conceptual globalism and globalisation : an initiation

Although the use of these two terms began in the latter half of the twentieth century, they have a longer lineage. Concept economic globalism of contemporary kind can be traced back to the liberal thinking of classical economists like Adam Smith and Herbert Spencer. Terms like globalize were first seen in Reiser and Davies (1944). Webster International Dictionary included them in 1961, while they appeared in Oxford Dictionary in 1986. The term globalization was coined in 1962. Most major languages were quick to develop equivalent taxonomy. In business and economics, marketing legend Theodore Levitt of Harvard Business School used it first in 1983 in an article entitled "The Globalization of Markets". His article is regarded as an enduring classic and its insightful language is still relevant today