21 research outputs found

    Interaction Between Agile Methods and Organizational Culture – A Qualitative Study

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    Background: Agile practices have gained popularity in the 21st century. There is also a growing body of research on agile methods. While some earlier research on agile practices and organizational culture exists with the assumption that the optimal combination of agile practices and organizational culture exists, we examine how agile methods and organizational culture interact and are mutually adjusted. Method: To find out how agile methods and organizational culture are related in practice, we conducted 50 semi-structured interviews with software and embedded software developers from five Japanese companies and three software teams from Finland. Results: Adopting agile methods does not necessarily cause convergence of organizational culture toward democratic which seems to be most compatible with archetypal agile practices. Agile methods can be adapted to organizational cultures that are sometimes challenging to modify. We demonstrate that companies tried to fit agile practices into hierarchical organizational cultures, demonstrating that organizational culture can occasionally be viewed as an exogenous variable influenced firm-, product-, and industry-specific features. Also, it is possible to transform organizational cultures to democratic. The examples demonstrate how companies alter their culture in part through HRM techniques. It should be noted, however, that these efforts to conform to culture can have some restrictions. Conclusion: There is not a single ideal combination of agile methods and organizational culture, despite what some earlier studies suggested. The results show how organizational culture and agile methods interact and adapt to one another in different ways. According to several earlier studies, different organizational cultures may support different facets of agile methods. They do not presuppose organizational culture diversity; in that it goes beyond the notion of a one-to-one relationship between agile methods and democratic organizational culture. While implementing agile practices in various organizational cultural contexts, practitioners must consider how agile methods and organizational culture are interconnected

    Competence building, competitiveness and price competition in small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in Aichi, Japan

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    日本の中小製造業企業にはコスト競争力が強く求められるようになっているが、コスト競争力の源泉についてはあまり明らかにされていない。これは、非価格競争への転換への方策を検討する上でも枢要な知見となろう。そこで本稿の目的は、第1に、いかなる原価低減活動によって実際に原価低減がもたらされ、ひいてはコスト競争力を獲得するに至っているかを明らかにすることである。第2に、組織能力構築に相補的な雇用重視企業はそうでない企業に比べて、原価低減活動・製品競争力にいかなる特徴を有しているかを示すことである。分析より、長期雇用慣行のもとで形成される技能・組織能力がコスト競争力の源泉として重要であることを示す結果が得られた。このことは、技能形成の制度化・充実化によって価格競争から脱却し非価格競争への転換を図ろうとする通念的な方策の限界を示しており、技能・組織能力の使用方向に影響を及ぼす施策が必要であることを示唆している

    ギジュツ ト ケイザイ ソシキ ノ キョウシンカ : ギジュツ ノウリョク ノ チクセキ ト ジュウヨウ

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    京都大学0048新制・課程博士博士(経済学)甲第10516号経博第180号新制||経||188(附属図書館)UT51-2004-C68京都大学大学院経済学研究科経済システム分析専攻(主査)教授 八木 紀一郎, 教授 宇仁 宏幸, 教授 吉田 和男学位規則第4条第1項該当Doctor of EconomicsKyoto UniversityDA

    The Division of Labor is Limited by the Extent of the Market? The Counter-case of the Okayama Farm-engine Industrial District in Japan

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    The purpose of this paper is to understand how industry organization evolves under conditions of a growing market. Since Adam Smith the traditional argument has claimed that as a market grows, a vertically disintegrated industry organization evolves, and that this enhances productivity. However, the question remains whether the market alone can select an efficient industry organization. This paper analyzes a case from the Japanese farm-engine industry of the 1950s, namely the industrial district of Okayama, where the breakthrough into disintegrated production was never achieved, despite rapid growth in the domestic market for agricultural engines. This led to the collapse of the district. The analysis shows that, if vertical disintegration requires radical changes in the technological competence of each firm, the market does not necessarily offer sufficient incentives for vertical disintegration, even under conditions of a growing market.

    日本のソフトウェア企業における経営管理:技術選択および雇用・取引慣行との適合性

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    Photobleaching of Fluorescent Probe in Microfluorometry and Detection of Active Oxygen Species.

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    マークアップの理論と実証 : ポスト・ケインジアン・アプローチ

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    Keynesian/post-Keynesian models, ,which prefer to suppose the cost-plus pricing rather than the profit-maximizing pricing, have investigated factors that affect the mark-up rate because its price theory is not complete without the mark-up theory. Following A. Wood's seminal model on the markup rate, M. Lavoie and E. Stockhammer theoretically shows two types of firm, that is, the profit rate maximizing firm and the capital accumulation rate maximization firms. By using the questionnaire survey results on the manufacturing firms in Aichi Prefecture and factor analysis, this paper gives some evidence of those types of firm. We further show the second factor composed of profitability factors has relatively stronger effect on the firms' mark-up setting behavior rather than the first factor composed of growth factors
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