Open Innovation Success Factors by ICT Use in Japanese Firms

The innovation by an independence principle is a limit in Japanese firm today. The expectation for the open innovation that positively uses outside resources on business has risen in Japanese firm. In open innovation, the strategy that expands sharing information and using the resource from supplier to customer for the innovation is needed. Therefore, the use of ICT is indispensable for the promotion of the open innovation. In this paper, we discussed how to utilize ICTs for open innovation activities in order to achieve more effective innovation outcomes in Japanese Medium-sized Enterprises. We conducted a mail survey for Japanese Medium-sized Enterprises in industries such as manufacturing, construction, and information and telecommunication in January 2010. Based on their replies, we applied the some logistic regression analyses. As results, the following points are clarified. Firms which achieve open innovation are enhancing the innovation by cooperating and exchanging information with the following entities: (i) affiliate companies which have the excellent technological knowhow; (ii) customers which locate inside or outside of the region; and (iii) firms in the same industry inside of the same region. The firms cultivate mutual trust for a long time and jointly develop frequently the new products and services. And they have frequently exchanged the customer needs, new release information of the rival companies and a high-tech trend with each other. They use CTI and SCM to use information and knowledge for designing and developing a new product and service. Moreover, it can be confirmed that the firm which top management is familiar with ICT and exercises the leadership for ICT use. In addition, the firm not only introduced ICT but also reformed organizational structures, systems, and company's rules at the same time. These analysis results will provide useful suggestions for SMEs to practice open innovation in the future. --Open Innovation,ICT,Japanese firms

Empirical study on Consumer Innovation by using Social Media in Japan

Consumer innovation occurs when consumers improve existing products and develop new products by themselves. Consumers innovate products in Japan, although the incidence is lower than that of Western countries. On the other hand, social media spreads all over the world. Some previous studies indicate that network communities of social media are useful for consumer innovation. However, these empirical studies have not been researched yet in Japan. This paper reports the results of a survey of into consumer engagement with product innovation by analyzing the questionnaire survey data, how to promote consumer innovation in Japan is clarified. Especially, the role of social media and its community and motivations of a lead user who is a consumer innovator are elucidated. We clarify the lead user plays a central role in the network community and wants monetary incentive. From these findings, we demonstrate how to combine consumer innovation with Japanese firms

Empirical analysis of internal social media and product innovation: Focusing on SNS and social capital

Recently social media such as Blog and SNS has been introducing by many firms for means of sharing information inside the firm, in particular to promote product and process innovation. This paper attempts to examine the relationship between social media and product innovation, and research questions are summarized as follows: (i) whether social capital influences the use of social media; (ii) whether social media promotes product innovation; and (iii) whether the effect of social media on product innovation is different in the manufacturing and service industry. The analysis clarifies that social capital in the firm is indispensable for the effective use of social media. Managerial attitudes toward innovation and social media are requirements for firms to promote product innovation. Managers thus should make an effort to raise social capital and nurture reciprocal culture for SNS use inside the firm. The paper finds that social media for product innovation is more important in the service industry than manufacturing. Social media makes it easy to obtain customers' information and share it among related sections, because social media enables to expand channels to make contact directly with the customer in the service industry.Social Media , Product Innovation,Social Capital,Ordered Probit Regression

Yield and Mineral Concentration Changes in Maize and Italian Ryegrass Cropping Systems

Mineral balance between plants and soil to which fertilizer has been applied is important in sustainable agriculture. Cropping systems are chosen based on considerations of crop yield, soil physical and chemical properties and climatic conditions. Thus, the sustainability of a forage cropping system should only be assessed after continuous cultivation has been practiced for several years. Forage crop production is employed in the rice paddies of Japan during summer. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the yield and mineral concentration of forage crops cultivated in hard-textured soils for 4 years

Management Options that Increase Herbage Production in Grassland-Based Livestock Production Systems

Herbage production is the most important measure of performance of grassland systems. Understanding how herbage production responds to various managements is crucial to the success of grassland systems, whether or not maximization of production is pursued. Most of the records of grassland production in the literature are taken as acceptable approximations of net herbage production. Analysis of these production records and accompanying quality data can generalize the response of grassland productivity and quality to individual managements, and can characterize the managements in terms of their efficiency and potential in increasing productivity and quality. Overall, maximum production response is ranked irrigation (11.2 t DM/ha) \u3e nitrogen (N) fertilizer (9.8 t DM/ha) \u3e legume mixture (5.2 t DM/ha) \u3e phosphorus fertilizer (3.4 t DM/ha) \u3e cutting frequency (2.5 t DM/ha) ≈ potassium fertilizer (2.4 t DM/ha) \u3e cutting intensity (1.9 t DM/ha). Maximum response of herbage N concentration is greatest for N fertilizer (16 g/kg DM, for grasses) followed by legume mixture (14 g/kg DM), cutting frequency (8 g/kg DM) and cutting intensity (2 g/kg DM). Management of grassland systems for achieving a specified production and/or quality goal needs to consider different patterns of production and quality response to individual management inputs as well as other conditions (e.g. plant species, site conditions) involved in the systems

Composting Characteristics of Bovine Manure Produced by Conventional Stacked Processing and an Experimental Small-Scale Apparatus

Southern Kyushu is an important center of beef production in Japan and the large amounts of bovine waste that are produced in the region need to be utilized in a way that is not harmful to the environment. One such method is to use the manure to produce organic fertilizer, which can then be used to replace the chemical fertilizer that is used for forage production (Hasyim et al., 2014). The composting of bovine manure involves co-digestion of cow manure with substrates such as sawdust and hay. The composting characteristics of these mixtures are influenced by the relative amounts of manure and the substrate used, and by external and internal composting conditions (Guo et al., 2012). Conventional stacked composting requires large volumes of materials, and repeating the composting procedure to produce compost with uniform characteristics is difficult (Kajiya et al., 2013). However, optimization of bovine manure composting has been established using a small-scale apparatus that can be operated by hand (Kajiya et al., 2014). However, the composting characteristics of the apparatus have not yet been compared with those associated with conventional stacked processing. The present study therefore compared the composting characteristics of these two methods in terms of the temperature profile during the composting process, physicochemical properties of composted manure, and percentage germination of plants; all of these methods have been advocated for use as safety indices for compost intended for application to cultivated crops (Cobo et al., 2002)

Pharmacological Effects and Utility as a Food Additive of Calcium Alginate

Here we review the physiological effects of the calcium salt of alginate (Ca-Alg), focusing on our own work. First, we found that Ca-Alg promotes the excretion and decreases the absorption of various metals, and does so more effectively than sodium alginate (Na-Alg). Ca-Alg also reduced plasma cholesterol (Cho) in rats fed a high-Cho diet for 2 weeks. This was considered to be due to reduced intestinal reabsorption of bile acid, resulting from the binding of Ca-Alg and bile acid; this induces an increase of bile acid synthesis from Cho in the liver, leading to a decrease in Cho in plasma. The increase of blood triglyceride (TG) levels in rats fed a high-fat diet for 5 weeks was significantly suppressed by Ca-Alg, leading to decreased fat accumulation in the liver and whole body. Ca-Alg in food was also effective in suppressing the postprandial increase of blood glucose level in rats and humans. An in vitro study suggested that Ca-Alg inhibits the interaction between α-glucosidase and its substrate maltose. In conclusion, Ca-Alg has a number of beneficial effects as a functional food ingredient, and is expected to be a safe and effective food additive for long-term use

Adaptability and Extension Activity of Dwarf Napiergrass in Southern Kyushu and Elsewhere since Its Introduction to Japan 15 Years Ago

Southern Kyushu is well suited to the cultivation of tropical grasses due to its warm climate, history of herbage production, and extensive areas of abandoned arable land. In 1996, a C4-tropical dwarf variety of a late-heading (DL) napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach) was introduced from the USA into southern Kyushu via Thailand. Since 2004, DL napiergrass has been evaluated for its production potential, overwintering ability, and suitability for grazing. In Miyazaki, napiergrass exhibits superior sustainability, persisting for more than 5 years without annual renovation. The species shows excellent overwintering ability in coastal areas and is resilient to pathogens and insects. Evaluation at several sites in southern Kyushu revealed that DL napiergrass required minimum winter temperatures to be above –6.2°C to persist over winter. Cultivation of this grass has been successfully extended to more than 10 sites, including isolated islands around Kyushu and at several of these sites livestock farms are now using DL napiergrass. Temperate Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) can be successfully established in the inter-row to increase biomass in spring and is well utilized by grazing beef cattle. However, the transplantation of DL napiergrass requires the use of nursery plants for vegetative propagation, and this has been efficiently developed using multi-celled tray beds. DL napiergrass cannot survive the winters of central and northern Japan, however as the species produces 5–18 T DM/ha/yr of highly palatable and good quality herbage, there is potential to increase its use as an annual pasture in these areas