Effects of CEOs' Characteristics on Internationalization of Small and Medium Enterprises in Japan

Recent heterogeneous-firm models of international trade suggest that productivity determines whether firms engage in export and foreign direct investment. However in practice, m Abstract any productive firms are not internationalized, whereas many unproductive firms are. This situation suggests that factors other than productivity influence internationalization. This study examines a set of potential factors -personal characteristics of the chief executive officer (CEO)- using a unique panel dataset for Japanese small and medium enterprises (SMEs). We find that SMEs are more likely to be internationalized when the CEO is more risk-tolerant, forward-looking, and internationally experienced. These factors show significant statistical relationships with SMEs' decisions to internationalize, perhaps suggesting why productive firms might not internationalize. In addition, we find that productivity has no significant relationship with the decision of exiting international markets probably because initial costs of internationalization become sunk, whereas SMEs with internationally experienced CEOs show strongly less likelihood of exit. These empirical results are consistent with theoretical predictions of our model that incorporates the uncertainty of foreign markets into the trade theory with firm heterogeneity.

Relative Importance of Each Component in a Thermal Energy Equation for Stream Temperature Prediction

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchiv

Cloning and Characterization of a Streptomyces Single Module Type Non-ribosomal Peptide Synthetase Catalyzing a Blue Pigment Synthesis

In the present study, we cloned a gene, designated bpsA, which encodes a single module type non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) from a d-cycloserine (DCS)-producing Streptomyces lavendulae ATCC11924. A putative oxidation domain is significantly integrated into the adenylation domain of the NRPS, and the condensation domain is absent from the module. When S. lividans was transformed with a plasmid carrying bpsA, the transformed cells produced a blue pigment, suggesting that bpsA is responsible for the blue pigment synthesis. However, to produce the blue pigment in Escherichia coli, the existence of the 4′-phosphopantetheinyl transferase (PPTase) gene from Streptomyces was necessary, in addition to bpsA. The chemical structure of the pigment was determined as 5,5′-diamino-4,4′-dihydroxy-3,3′-diazadiphenoquinone-(2,2′), called indigoidine. The bpsA gene product, designated BPSA, was overproduced in an E. coli host-vector system and purified to homogeneity, demonstrating that the recombinant enzyme prefers l-Gln as a substrate. The in vitro experiment using l-Gln also showed that the blue pigment was formed by the purified BPSA only when the enzyme was phosphopantetheinylated by adding a Streptomyces PPTase purified from E. coli cells. Each site-directed mutagenesis experiment of Lys598, Tyr601, Ser603, and Tyr608, which are seen in the oxidation domain of BPSA, suggests that these residues are essential for the binding of FMN to the protein and the synthesis of the blue pigment

Changes in Blood Coagulation and Fibrinolysis Systems after Hassab's Procedure for Portal Hypertension

The changes in the coagulation and fibrinolysis systems in 12 patients on whom Hassab's procedure was given for portal hypertension with liver cirrhosis (LC) were studied. The coagulation factors such as the platelet count, prothrombin time (PT) and fibrinogen level showed reduction before operation, while after operation these values showed significant increase. Whereas the fibrinolysis, the fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) showed no positive cases before operation, but after operation a significant rise was noted on the 7th day as the peak. It was observed from these findings that Hassab's procedure given on the cases with LC induced acceleration in the coagulation and fibrinolysis systems after operation, so that ample care should be taken for the complications including disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) or gastrointestinal bleeding

Relationship between Bilirubin Decreasing Rate "b" and Morbidity in Patients with Obstructive Jaundice

In the period from 1970 to 1985, 114 patients on whom secondarily operation for obstructive jaundice has been done were surveyed.In order to determine a good clinical indicator for predicting prognosis, we took total bilirubin level and the bilirubin decreasing rate "b". In the relationship between total bilirubin level and morbidity, no significant difference were noted in the groups of total bilirubin level below 4.9mg/dl, at 5.0-9.9mg/dl, and over 10.0mg/dl. While the rate of complication is estimated to be 25% in the good group classified by "b" value, 33.9% in the fair group and 73.5% in the poor group, respectively. Significant difference between morbidity in the good group and the poor (p<0.01), and in the fair and the poor (p<0.01) were noted. Thus we conclude that the bilirubin decreasing rate "b" is much better clinical indicator than total bilirubin level

The Influence of Truncal Vagotomy on Acute Gastric Mucosal Lesion in Obstructive Jaundice

With a view to examining the influence of truncal vagotomy on acute gastric mucosal lesion (AGML) in obstructive jaundice, the authors prepared the non-vagotomized group and the vagotomized group of rats with obstructive jaundice. Further, cold restraint stress was loaded on the two groups for 30 min, and the following results were obtained: 1) The incidence of AGML in the vagotomized group before stress was inhibited to 17% in both the 3-week group and 4-week group, as compared to 33-38% in the non-vagotomized group. The incidence of AGML in the vagotomized group after stress was inhibited to 17% in the 3-week group and 33% in the 4-week group, as compared to 78% in the non-vagotomized group. 2) Gastric mucosal histamine (HA) contents in the vagotomized group before stress in both the 3-week group and the 4-week group were significantly increased (p < 0.05) as compared with the levels in the non-vagotomized group. As concerns gastric mucosal serotonin (5-HT) contents, however, no significant difference was noted between both groups. The contents of both amines in the gastric mucosa in the non-vagotomized group, a significant decrease (p < 0.05) was observed in both the 3-week group and 4-week group after stress, while in the vagotomized group no significant changes were found

Experimental Studies on Acute Gastric Mucosal Lesion Involved with Obstructive Jaundice: Mainly on the Changes of Amine Contents in the Gastric Mucosa on Cold Restraint Stress

The authors gave load of cold restraint stress to rats with obstructive jaundice and those on which biliary drainage was performed in order to examine the incidence of AGML, amine contents in the gastric mucosa, and gastric mucosal microcirculation, and the following results were obtained: 1) The incidence of AGML in the 3,4-week group of rats with obstructive jaundice and in the 4-week group of rats with biliary drainage after cold restraint for 30 min was increased markedly by 78% for each as compared with 22% in the control group. 2) The contents of histamine and serotonin in the gastric mucosa in the control group showed no significant change after cold restraint for 30 min, whereas the contents of both amines in the 3,4-week group of rats with obstructive jaundice and in the 4-week group of rats with biliary drainage were, respectively, significantly decreased after cold restraint. 3) Gastric mucosal microcirculation in the control group was prevented rather successfully, whereas that in the 4-week group of rats with obstructive jaundice after cold restraint for 30 min developed disturbance of gastric mucosal microcirculation due to congestion