Japan and Japanese firms: historical and modern lessons for international business and economic development

The obsession in both the popular and academic press about Japan, Japanese firms and their management practices lasted until the 1990s, after which there has been an inexplicable absence of curiosity. I argue here that there is still much to learn, not only from their contemporary activity, but from their historical actions. Less developed countries, in particular, can benefit from a careful study of the Meiji era, during which Japan built up the structure, institutions and organizations that underlay its economic success for much of the 20th century, and was a blueprint for many Asian success stories. The Meiji period was crucial in building up of Japan’s location advantages, and the rapidity of the reforms in this period underlined much of its subsequent growth. I also argue that despite Japan’s economic stagnation since the 1990s, its firms have not been stationary. There has been considerable evolution in the management and structure of Japanese firms and its innovation system. Such developments represent a useful preview of challenges ahead for the more advanced emerging economies such as China and India, as well as newer advanced economies, such as Korea

Strategic accounting: revisiting the agenda

Rapid changes in the external environment of organisations have been accompanied by calls for accountants to change the nature of information they provide, the skills they possess and the role they play in the organisation. The proposed changes, which are encapsulated under the phrase accounting for strategic positioning or strategic management accounting are two pronged. On one hand accountants are required to reposition themselves in the organisation hierarchy where they will be involved in the formulation, implementation and choice of strategies. Accountants are also being urged to adopt a range of techniques whose emphasis is futuristic and external to the firm especially emphasizing the importance of monitoring customers and competitors. A review of the literature has revealed that while considerable effort has been put into the development of rational techniques for proposed use less has gone into whether, how and with what effect the proposed techniques have been implemented in organisations and society. The literature has adopted an uncritical approach to the proposals for a strategic accounting, providing little insight into how the discourse of strategy has come to occupy such a position of centrality in organisations and society with other functions seeking to be branded “strategic”

Choosing a Company's Building Design: Models for Strategic Design Decisions

Improving the linkage between real estate strategy and building design can help competitive business strategy. Differentiating building design from product design is important. Problems in making design choices derive from received paradigmatic knowledge that misrepresents the design decision processes. Architectural selection problems are explained with reference to design decision processes and dilemmas of testing the design. Because comparison is the underlying method of evaluation, the design competition is discussed as a model to evaluate the design of a company’s proposed high profile buildings in relation to corporate strategy. The Appendix describes the process and the recent and past history of competitions.

Strategic Positioning Under Agricultural Structural Change: A Critique of Long Jump Co-operative Ventures

Industrial Organization, Agribusiness,

STRATEGIC POSITIONING UNDER AGRICULTURAL STRUCTURAL CHANGE: A CRITIQUE OF LONG JUMP CO-OPERATIVE VENTURES

Structural change in US agriculture has disrupted the traditional organization of the supply chain. Not only does the scale increase of firms common during the industrial period (1970-1995) continue, but also with the rise of a knowledge-based economy, new organizational forms and supply chain linkages are proliferating. Examples are the radical transformation of the relationship between input suppliers and producers in the biotech arena, the dominance of the swine industry by the integrated model, the rise of marketing and production contracting, and the arrival of multi-member closed producer organizations such as the new generation cooperatives and limited liability companies. The focus of this research is these new integrated producer organizations. Much of the activity and subsequent analysis of new producer organizations has focused on value-added opportunities through integration (i.e., Merrett et al, 1999). There are numerous examples from pasta plants and egg breaking, to cattle feeding, hog slaughter, and alcohol production. These value-added opportunities we define as long jump ventures. That is, they lie outside the core competencies of the principles in the firm, the producers. Strategic management theory (Prahalad, 1986,1990,1993; Quinn, 1977,1990; Mintzberg, 1987,1994,1996,1998,2000) suggests that there may be other opportunities available to producer organizations that better leverage their core competencies, short jump ventures. Short jump ventures are value-creating opportunities that involve a minimum R&D, less capital, less risk, and less direct specialized knowledge. While the economy at large is producing vast quantifies of long jump innovations in the fields of biotechnology and information, there is another revolution occurring in business involving short jump innovation in the area of service. This new field, known as; one-to-one marketing (Pepper, 1993, 1999), relationship management (Hansen, 1983), relationship marketing (Curry, 2000), and strategic partnering (Rackam, 1996), focuses on the supplier-client interface. Value is created by significant coordination between supplier and client. The boundary between firms is blurred, knowledge is actively shared, and partners are dedicated to mutual profitability. By understanding the needs of the client, the supplying firm is able to adapt its products and more importantly services. This creates a unique and more valuable business for the supplier insulating it from competitive forces and allowing greater value capture. This not only creates greater supply chain efficiency, but intra-firm and inter-firm product innovation result as well. The objective of this paper is to study strategic options for production agriculture dealing with the failure of the commodity business model. From this analysis of strategic positioning the paper introduces relationship management as a viable strategic alternative for commodity producers. Finally, a case study of the Wairarapa Lamb Cooperative, a New Zealand based firm doing business in the United States, is introduced. The case serves not only as an example of relationship management in agriculture but also demonstrates how producers can work within their own core competencies, leverage knowledge assets, and avoid highly specific fixed assets. The methodology will be: 1) Review the literature as to the types of activities in which integrated producer organizations are engaged. 2) Present a theoretical model of strategy analyzing short jump versus long jump ventures. 3) Introduce Relationship Management. 4) Employ a case study example of the theory in practice. This paper theoretically analyzes producers' vertical integration through "brick and mortar" investments, such as hog slaughter and ethanol production. A theoretical model using strategic management theory and a case study are used to critique the long jump strategy and suggest relationship management as a more viable alternative.Agribusiness,

Reflexivity and flexibility: Complementary routes to innovation?

Flexibility and reflexivity are essential processes for organisational innovation. The aim of the paper is to investigate their concurrent and interactive contribution in enhancing two innovation outcomes (the organisational openness towards innovation and the actual innovation adoption). Participants were 357 Italian employees. Results of a hierarchical regression model showed the role of both factors in fostering the two innovation outcomes under study. In addition, results showed the complementary interaction of reflexivity and flexibility, outlining two possible routes to innovation. Specifically, reflexivity appears to be a generative learning process capable of encouraging innovation in low-flexibility conditions, whereas flexibility tends to encourage innovation in low-reflexivity conditions. The findings provide empirical support of their roles as complementary resources for innovation, which has been under-examined in the literature

The French defence industry in the knowledge management era: A historical overview and evidence from empirical data

In the defence industry the recent development of ‘market for technology', the creation of new European high-technology companies as well as transformations in government agencies have conducted firms to reposition their technological and organisational skills. Our objective is to show that the transformations that have occurred in the past ten years have not only redefined skills and the organisation of production but have also given a more strategic place to knowledge management practices. Thus, we provide a contextual and historical overview with qualitative interviews in order to better understand the relation between KM and innovative behaviour in this industry. We have also built an original industrial and technological database with various samples that provides quantitative information concerning KM and innovative practices. The results of the statistical analysis reveal the specificity of firms in the defence industry. Taking into account the size of the firms and their technological intensity, we show that the behaviour of firms in the defence industry in terms of KM practices is different to that of other firms. The technological performances, the innovation intensity and the patent intensity also show the specificity of this industry. This structural tendency is explained as an innovative behaviour of the French NIS rather than as a mere “trend”Defence industry, Knowledge management practices, R&D, innovation, technological performance.

Sleeping with the enemy? : strategic transformations in business - NGO relationships through stakeholder dialogue

Campaigning activities of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have increased public awareness and concern regarding the alleged unethical and environmentally damaging practices of many major multinational companies. Companies have responded by developing corporate social responsibility strategies to demonstrate their commitment to both the societies within which they function and to the protection of the natural environment. This has often involved a move towards greater transparency in company practice and a desire to engage with stakeholders, often including many of the campaign organisations that have been at the forefront of the criticisms of their activity. This article examines the ways in which stakeholder dialogue has impacted upon the relationships between NGOs and businesses. In doing so, it contributes to the call for more ‘stakeholder-focused’ research in this field (Frooman in Acad Manag Rev 24(2): 191–205, 1999; Steurer in Bus Strategy Environ 15: 15–69 2006). By adopting a stakeholder lens, and focusing more heavily upon the impact on one particular stakeholder community (NGOs) and looking in depth at one form of engagement (stakeholder dialogue), this article examines how experiences of dialogue are strategically transforming interactions between businesses and NGOs. It shows how experiences of stakeholder dialogue have led to transformations in the drivers for engagement, transformations in the processes of engagement and transformations in the terms of engagement. Examining these areas of transformation, the article argues, reveals the interactions at play in framing and shaping the evolving relationships between business and its stakeholders

How to Write a Proof: Patterns of Justification in Strategic Documents for Educational Reform

Writing strategic documents is a major practice of many actors striving to see their educational ideas realised in the curriculum. In these documents, arguments are systematically developed to create the legitimacy of a new educational goal and competence to make claims about it. Through a qualitative analysis of the writing strategies used in these texts, I show how two of the main actors in the Czech educational discourse have developed a proof that a new educational goal is needed. I draw on the connection of the relational approach in the sociology of education with Lyotard’s analytical semantics of instances in the event. The comparison of the writing strategies in the two documents reveals differences in the formation of a particular pattern of justification. In one case the texts function as a herald of pure reality, and in the other case as a messenger of other witnesses. This reveals different regimens of proof, although both of them were written as prescriptive directives – normative models of the educational world