Japanese LMEs and internationalisation: a study of the internationalisation behaviour of Japanese leading medium-sized enterprises in the context of globalisation.

This thesis is about globalisation and the firm. Specifically it concerns a particular type of firm called here a 'leading medium-sized enterprise'. or LME. This term is derived from the Japanese 'chuken kigyo’ which is used in Japan to distinguish the LME from small and medium-sized firms on the one hand and large firms on the other. LMEs are not exclusive to Japan, but they thrive there. The thesis establishes the importance of the LME as a (hitherto neglected) concept and business type, and analyses the conditions in Japan that have favoured the emergence of such firms there. Subsequently the investigation employs the Japanese LME to illustrate the approach to globalisation o f this particular kind of firm. Apart from being medium sized and a leader in its self-determined area of business, the LME is characterised by being independent and highly specialised in its core competence, to which it has devoted considerable time and effort. Deriving from and substantiating its particular character is a mode of operation and strategic philosophy called here 'articulation', which is an incremental approach applied first to the LME's domestic development and subsequently to internationalisation. The type of firm discussed here is the manufacturing LME and the form of internationalisation analysed is foreign direct investment (FDI). In contrast to the large transnational corporation (TNC), the smaller LME is hypothesised to be more prone to favour proximity in its inaugural FDI endeavours. So the adjacent multinational region of East Asia is introduced as the potential initiating location for FDI by Japanese LMEs. Within this region, Taiwan is posited as the representative of 'super proximity' because of the high degree of complementarity it is deemed to have with internationalising Japanese LMEs. An aggregate sample of 110 Japanese LMEs which have invested in Taiwan are compiled and analysed to see how this investment has contributed to shaping their globalisation strategies. From this aggregate sample, five case study LMEs are abstracted for more detailed examination of the motives, strategies and regional impacts (contribution to globalisation) of internationalising LMEs. In order of priority, this research has been conducted in Japanese, English. Chinese and French. In fact, it could not have been started without knowledge of at least written Japanese and Chinese. The first contribution to knowledge of this thesis, therefore, is that it brings to light information and materials not readily available to Westerners not conversant with these languages. In addition, the concepts of the LME and articulation have been introduced into accounts of the internationalisation of the firm, and also employed as analytical tools to show that the process of internationalisation by the smaller, specialised firm (as opposed to the large, multifunctional TNC) is accomplished in a manner distinctive to itself, because of its assertive concentration on its core competence, and despite the constraints of size and scope imposed upon it. This thesis also demonstrates that Japanese LMEs make a distinctive contribution to the on-going process o f globalisation, by their (generally positive) impacts on the overseas locations in which they operate, and by helping to shape the economic integration of the East Asian region

The Barry Gray archive

The Barry Gray Archive was established in Ashford, Kent, England, in 2005, to preserve and to help make available artefacts of the varied work of British film and television composer Barry Gray (1908–1984)—one of the first musicians to use electronic musical instruments in commercial, audio-visual media. This article comprises a description of the rationale behind the archive, issues faced, motivations, methods adopted for digital preservation, copyright matters engaged with, and an assessment of the surprising ways in which the archive is informing British scholarship. Aspects of how an archive can be structured as an electronic hub so as to enable appropriate perpetuation are presented, together with case studies to illustrate its continuing impact to date

Non-Standard Fermion Propagators from Conformal Field Theory

It is shown that Weyl spinors in 4D Minkowski space are composed of primary fields of half-integer conformal weights. This yields representations of fermionic 2-point functions in terms of correlators of primary fields with a factorized transformation behavior under the Lorentz group. I employ this observation to determine the general structure of the corresponding Lorentz covariant correlators by methods similar to the methods employed in conformal field theory to determine 2- and 3-point functions of primary fields. In particular, the chiral symmetry breaking terms resemble fermionic 2-point functions of 2D CFT up to a function of the product of momenta. The construction also permits for the formulation of covariant meromorphy constraints on spinors in 3+1 dimensions.Comment: 15 pages, Latex, LMU-TPW 94-1

Random access-random release relay switching matrix

XY relay switching matrix provides complete random access and random release of 400 points. A mercury-wetted bistable relay with independent set and reset coils is the unique feature associated with each point

Cold cathode gauge experiment (ALSEP)

Cold cathode ionization gages were left on the lunar surface as part of ALSEP (Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package) on Apollo missions 12, 14, and 15. An instrument prepared for Apollo 13 did not reach the surface because of the abort of that mission. The gages that reached the lunar surface measured the amounts of gas present in the vicinity of the ALSEP sites. The observed daytime gas concentrations were initially about two orders of magnitude greater than the nighttime observations; this was due to contamination of the landing area by the Apollo operations and equipment, and the daytime measurements showed a decrease with time characterized by a time constant of a few months

Proposed Distributed Feedback Crystal Cavities for X-Ray Lasers

The strong interest in the coherent generation and guiding of x rays is well known. Many papers have recently appeared treating different concepts of stimulated x-ray emissions, and x-ray guiding in thin films was achieved. Crystals were suggested as end reflectors to generate feedback. Here we suggest a different type of cavity using zeolite crystals that would guide the emitted x-rays and at the same time generate the necessary feedback for self-sustained oscillation

TRUTH – A Conversation between P F Strawson and Gareth Evans (1973)

This is a transcript of a conversation between P F Strawson and Gareth Evans in 1973, filmed for The Open University. Under the title 'Truth', Strawson and Evans discuss the question as to whether the distinction between genuinely fact-stating uses of language and other uses can be grounded on a theory of truth, especially a 'thin' notion of truth in the tradition of F P Ramsey

Construction of the factorized steady state distribution in models of mass transport

For a class of one-dimensional mass transport models we present a simple and direct test on the chipping functions, which define the probabilities for mass to be transferred to neighbouring sites, to determine whether the stationary distribution is factorized. In cases where the answer is affirmative, we provide an explicit method for constructing the single-site weight function. As an illustration of the power of this approach, previously known results on the Zero-range process and Asymmetric random average process are recovered in a few lines. We also construct new models, namely a generalized Zero-range process and a binomial chipping model, which have factorized steady states.Comment: 6 pages, no figure