A Study On The Relationships Between Software Engineering Capabilities And Business Performance Of Japanese It Firms Through Longitudinal Modeling

This study aims at better understanding the long-term relationships among the software engineering capabilities and business performance of the representative IT firms in Japan. We conducted longitudinal analyses on standardized software engineering capability scores of three surveys and ten-year business performance from 151 firms. Through panel analyses of the best Akaike Information Criteria model, we found that IT firms maintaining high levels of deliverables, derived from high levels of human development, quality assurance, project management and process improvement, tend to sustain high profitability, while IT firms with high levels of project management and customer contact tend to be highly productive and increasingly improve the productivity in the long-term. Concerning business performance, profitable IT firms tend to be stable and this tendency accelerates progressively due to the enhancement of deliverables and R&D. However, productive IT firms are not necessarily profitable likely because of the multi-layered industry structure in Japan

A STUDY ON CHARACTERISTICS OF SOFTWARE VENDORS IN JAPAN: FROM ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS AND RESOURCE-BASED VIEW

The objectives of this research are to describe competitive environment in software industry in Japan and to understand the differences of characteristics among maker-turned, user-turned and independent vendors. Based on management frameworks such as Porter’s five forces and Barney’s resource-based view, we developed the measurement model of environmental threats and competitive strengths/weaknesses. And we conducted factor analysis of the data collected from 100 major IT vendors in Japan. Then we extracted 8 threats factors, e.g., industry stagnation, recruiting bright people, ROI/quality requirement by clients, price cutting/quick delivery request by clients, new technology adoption. Also we identified 6 strengths/weaknesses factors, e.g., human capital, scale merit, expansive business, inimitability, stability. The regression tree analysis suggests that the maker-turned vendors tend to significantly expand business with well-resourced R&D, while the user-turned vendors seem to depend heavily on the demand of the parent companies. Therefore, some of them are thought to gain inimitable capabilities. On the other hand, many of the independent vendors supply people with the principal contractors as the temporary staffing without the specific strengths. However, some of independent vendors with the inimitable asset are thought to be the role model of the software vendors in Japan

A STUDY ON THE MANAGEMENT OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERING CAPABILITIES IN JAPAN USING PANEL ANALYSIS

We designed a survey on software engineering excellence (SEE) and administered it in 2005, 2006 and 2007 with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to better understand the mechanism of how software engineering capabilities relate to IT vendors’ business performance and business environment. We measured the SEE survey results with regard to seven factors: deliverables, project management, quality assurance, process improvement, research and development, human development, and contact with customers. In this paper, we integrated 233 valid responses to the SEE surveys received over three years into a new database and identified 151 unique IT firms. We conducted panel analyses of the seven SEE factors using the three years of data to clarify what influence SEE factors have within a year, year-to-year, and mid-term. Based on the results of the panel analysis, our first observation is that most SEE factors for a year had significant positive influences on the same factors the next year. Second, there were three paths to improving the level of deliverables through project management, quality assurance and research and development in a year. Third, some SEE factors had significant positive influence on different SEE factors in the following year. Fourth, there were some negative paths, implying that effort put toward a particular factor did not pay off during the duration of our research. These efforts, however, might be expected to have longer-term effects on other SEE factors

Isokinetic Closed Kinetic Chain Exercise における膝関節反力の筋骨格モデル解析

前十字靱帯損傷者の術後リハビリテーションとして閉運動連鎖(CKC)が注目されてきた。CKCで理想的な下肢全体の筋収縮を引き出すためにサイクロイド曲線を利用した等運動性閉運動連鎖型評価訓練機を開発した。足部が円弧状運動を行うことで股関節、膝関節に均等にトルクを分散しスムーズで安全な運動が可能となる。ロードセルによる足部出力の計測と、ビデオキャプチャーデータを同期して各関節トルクを求めることができる。この運動について筋骨格シミュレーションモデルを用いて解析し、膝関節に加わるストレスを検討した。健常人では本機により大腿四頭筋とハムストリングのバランスの良い収縮が得られ、膝関節全屈曲角度域にわたって脛骨を前方へ引き出す力はほとんど働いていないことが証明された。CYBEX などのOKC では再建靱帯に危険なストレスがかかる可能性があり、本機によるCKC での筋力評価訓練は安全かつ有用であると考える