From buyer-driven fragmented to consumer-driven vertically integrated value chains: a case study of Japanese apparel and accessory SMEs

This study provides foundations for the vertical integration strategy for global value chain efficiencies, although international economics emphasizes production unbundling. The two Japanese SMEs under study have transformed their value chain structures toward international vertical integration to take advantage of in-house multi-location, multi-plant arrangements and market-side innovations, including sales channel diversification and e-commerce. Their strategic transformation is consumer-driven rather than corporate buyer-driven, but they take their unique supply-side advantage of production capacity in Japan. The in-depth case studies suggest the limitation of single literature of internationalization studies and the necessity of an interdisciplinary approach in illustrating international business realities and deriving practical managerial and policy implications

Prediction Errors of Macroeconomic Indicators and Economic Shocks for ASEAN Member States, 1990‒2021

In this study, we analyze how economic shocks affect six ASEAN Member States --Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam --in three dimensions: global, domestic, and uncertainty shocks. We collect macroeconomic indicators for 1990-2021 and calculate macroeconomic shocks based on the prediction errors of real GDP growth rates. First, we demonstrate that countries were significantly subjected to unforeseen negative economic shocks on average. Second, we show high synchronization of economic fluctuations and shocks within these countries and with the world. Third, by conducting regression analyses separately, we derive the following: (i) positive association between variations of the global real GDP growth rates and countries' economic shocks; (ii) different quantitative significance of previous estimates among countries; (iii) country-specific domestic shocks; and (iv) correlation of global- and country-level uncertainty indices with negative economic shocks in some AMS. Our results highlight the relative importance of global, domestic, and uncertainty shocks in the AMS as 56.3%, 39.6%, and 2.8%, respectively. Finally, based on this dataset and conducted analysis, we also review the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on these countries

Unintended consequences of business digitalization among MSMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of Indonesia

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted businesses, economies, and societies worldwide. This study employs unique data from Indonesia to investigate whether and how digitalization of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) helped them weather the adverse shocks from the pandemic and resulting lockdowns. The main empirical result is that, in the pandemic's early phases, digitalized MSMEs disproportionately encountered negative effects on their business outcomes. The seemingly harmful elements of digitalization disappeared during later stages. Moreover, COVID-19 restrictions initially had a "positive" impact on the business environment. This is counterintuitive. But when considering the panic buying at the onset of restrictions and large share held by the essential sector in our dataset, particularly the wholesale and retail sectors, the positive impact from the restrictions is not unreasonable. These findings suggest that the digital transformation had not yet been stably established among MSMEs by the start of the pandemic. Our findings provide critical implications for industrial and competition policies related to MSMEs during the COVID-19 recovery process