Education, Enterprise Capitalism, and Equity Challenges: The Continuing Relevance of the Correspondence Principle in Japan

This paper revisits the correspondence principle of Bowles and Gintis (1976) – which refers to the mutual mimicking of the capitalist hierarchy in the workplace and the school. The Bowles-Gintis model still appears to be working in the context of schooling in Japan. In the international comparative educational assessment called PISA (Program for International Student Assessment), created by OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the association of advanced democratic nations), Japanese students achieve better results than most countries. Japanese students excel in PISA performance, especially in mathematics. Such excellence, however, has negative correlations with students’ creativity, positive attitudes, and independence. The PISA performance shows positive correlations with patience, rigor, and the attitude of ‘belonging to school’. Furthermore, Japanese students do not establish good relationships with their teachers. Based on these findings, this paper discusses critically the impact of decades-long Japanese recession on school-going young generations of Japanese. In general, it appears that – in Japan – the instilling and mimicking of strict hierarchy continues in the schools, and in workplaces

Going Glocal in a Pandemic: Can Japan Offer Lessons for Others?

This Dialogue contribution draws some lessons from the Japanese countermeasures against the COVID-19 pandemic. It approaches this issue from a social point of view. Specifically, it focuses on social and cultural understanding process of an uncertainty event – in this case the COVID-19 pandemic, but also early instances – by the Japanese

EVOLUCIJA RAZVOJA PRIVATNIH MARKI: SLUČAJ JAPANA

This paper discusses on recent trend in private label development in Japan. Reasons for introducing of private label products have been explained as low price with moderate quality by the beginning of 21st century in Japan. However, improvement of quality is one of the persuasive factors which explains recent growth of private label products. In this paper, we will show market share growth which evolves with private label evolution from low price appeal to quality focused, when we traced its evolutionary sequence. Continuous quality improvement of private label product is one of the critical factors which influences consumers’ repeated purchase. Though previous studies indicated that quality improvement positively influenced, there was few report on practices and management of quality improvement in retailers. This paper will explore such quality improvement activities, how that evolved. Recent private label development focused on involvement to upstream, that is, production phase, such as material selections and supply management.U radu se analiziraju recentni trendovi razvoja privatnih marki u Japanu. Razlozi za uvođenje proizvoda privatne robne marke početkom 21. stoljeća u Japanu su niska cijena i umjerena kvaliteta. Međutim, poboljšanje kvalitete jedan je od uvjerljivih čimbenika koji objašnjava nedavni rast proizvoda privatne robne marke. U ovom radu pokazat ćemo rast tržišnog udjela koji se razvija s evolucijom privatnih robnih marki koje sa fokusa na niske cijene se usmjeravaju na kvalitetu. Kontinuirano poboljšanje kvalitete proizvoda privatne robne marke jedan kritičan je čimbenika koji utječu na ponovnu kupnju potrošača. Iako su prethodna istraživanja pokazala da je poboljšanje kvalitete pozitivno utjecalo, malo je izvještaja o praksi i upravljanju poboljšanjem kvalitete u maloprodaji. Ovaj rad će istražiti aktivnosti poboljšanja kvalitete i njihov razvoj. Nedavni razvoj privatnih maraka usmjeren je na uključivanje u vertikalni sustav (vertikalno povezivanje), odnosno fazu proizvodnje, kao što su odabir materijala i upravljanje opskrbom

ORGANIZACIJSKA AMBIDEKSTRIJA: ŠTO ZNAČI? KAKO SE AKTIVIRA?

This paper, based on a longitudinal case study, explicates through what kinds of learning process the organizational ambidexterity is actually realized. We assume the two types of learning process called explorative learning and exploitative learning drawn from March’s original work and define the ambidexterity as the balance of two learning modes (March 1991). In March’s characterization, exploration involves search, variation, risk-taking, experimentation, play, flexibility, discovery and innovation, whereas exploitation can be defined as refinement, choice, production, efficiency, selection, implementation and execution. This characterization, however, is very ambiguous. To make the definition clearer, we add a dynamic capability view to the ambidexterity research. Teece (2007)’s dynamic capabilities view assumes the explorative learning route comprised of three micro-foundations (sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring). However, the linkage of three micro-foundations may break somewhere by the bias of organizational learning. For that reason, the existence of another learning mechanism, so-called exploitative learning is also drawig attention. Unfortunately, exploitative learning route also suffers from several breakdowns. As a result, every firms need the balancing efforts of exploitative learning and explorative learning as an organizational ambidexterity. We try to identify its concrete actualization process by opening the black box of an ambidexterity mechanism in real setting. We select special research setting, the foreign expansion case of a Japanese international retailer into Chinese market. Our research question is what kind of balancing process does the organizational ambidexterity actually follow? We look at how the two learning processes are activated and balanced, looking at either the combined or equalizing dimensions of ambidexterity construct. We also pay attention to what are the controllable antecedents that make it possible. In conclusion, the theoretical and practical implications are tentatively drawn from this study.Ovaj rad, temeljen na longitudinalnoj studiji slučaja, objašnjava kroz koje se vrste procesa učenja ostvaruje organizacijska ambidekstrija. Pretpostavljamo da su dvije vrste procesa učenja nazvane eksplorativno učenje i eksploatativno učenje koje su izvedene iz izvornog Marchovog rada i definiraju ambidekstriju kao ravnotežu dva načina učenja (March 1991.) Prema Marchu, eksplorativno učenje uključuje pretraživanje, varijacije, preuzimanja rizika, eksperimentiranje, igru, fleksibilnost, otkriće i inovacije, dok se eksploatacija može definirati kao pročišćavanje, izbor, proizvodnja, učinkovitost, odabir, implementacija i izvedba. Međutim, ta je karakterizacija vrlo neodređena. Da bi definicija bila jasnija, dodali smo prikaz dinamičkih sposobnosti istraživanju ambidekstrije. Pregled dinamičkih sposobnosti Teecea (2007) pretpostavlja put eksplorativnog učenja koji se sastoji od tri mikroosnove (opažanje, evaluacija tržišta i konkurenata, te rekonfiguracija). Međutim, veza tri mikroosnove može se negdje prekinuti zbog pristranosti organizacijskog učenja. Iz tog razloga pažnju privlači i postojanje drugog mehanizma učenja, tzv. eksploatativnog. Nažalost, eksploatacijski način učenja također se može prekinuti. Kao rezultat toga, tvrtke trebaju uravnotežiti eksploatativno učenje i eksplorativno učenje kao organizacijsku ambidekstriju. Pokušali smo identificirati njegov konkretni postupak aktualizacije razjašnjavajući mehanizam ambidekstrije u stvarnom okruženju. Istraživanje je rađeno na slučaju ekspanzije japanskog međunarodnog prodavača na kineskom tržištu. Naše je istraživačko pitanje kakav postupak uravnoteženja zapravo slijedi organizacijska ambidekstrija? Promatrali smo kako se aktiviraju i uravnotežuju dva procesa učenja, sagledavajući bilo kombinirane ili izjednačujuće dimenzije konstrukta ambidekstrije. Također smo uzeli u obzir čimbenike koji su prethodili, a koji to omogućuju. Zaključno, ova je studija rezultirala okvirnim teorijskim i praktičnim implikacijama

EVOLUCIJA RAZVOJA PRIVATNIH MARKI: SLUČAJ JAPANA

This paper discusses on recent trend in private label development in Japan. Reasons for introducing of private label products have been explained as low price with moderate quality by the beginning of 21st century in Japan. However, improvement of quality is one of the persuasive factors which explains recent growth of private label products. In this paper, we will show market share growth which evolves with private label evolution from low price appeal to quality focused, when we traced its evolutionary sequence. Continuous quality improvement of private label product is one of the critical factors which influences consumers’ repeated purchase. Though previous studies indicated that quality improvement positively influenced, there was few report on practices and management of quality improvement in retailers. This paper will explore such quality improvement activities, how that evolved. Recent private label development focused on involvement to upstream, that is, production phase, such as material selections and supply management.U radu se analiziraju recentni trendovi razvoja privatnih marki u Japanu. Razlozi za uvođenje proizvoda privatne robne marke početkom 21. stoljeća u Japanu su niska cijena i umjerena kvaliteta. Međutim, poboljšanje kvalitete jedan je od uvjerljivih čimbenika koji objašnjava nedavni rast proizvoda privatne robne marke. U ovom radu pokazat ćemo rast tržišnog udjela koji se razvija s evolucijom privatnih robnih marki koje sa fokusa na niske cijene se usmjeravaju na kvalitetu. Kontinuirano poboljšanje kvalitete proizvoda privatne robne marke jedan kritičan je čimbenika koji utječu na ponovnu kupnju potrošača. Iako su prethodna istraživanja pokazala da je poboljšanje kvalitete pozitivno utjecalo, malo je izvještaja o praksi i upravljanju poboljšanjem kvalitete u maloprodaji. Ovaj rad će istražiti aktivnosti poboljšanja kvalitete i njihov razvoj. Nedavni razvoj privatnih maraka usmjeren je na uključivanje u vertikalni sustav (vertikalno povezivanje), odnosno fazu proizvodnje, kao što su odabir materijala i upravljanje opskrbom