Japanese Strategy Research Articles

Japanese Multinational Enterprises in China: Successful Adaptation of Marketing Strategies

This paper examines three case studies of Japanese multinational enterprises (MNEs) in China. They are from different sectors – retailing (Ito-Yokado), consumer goods (Shiseido) and automobiles (Toyota) – and all have had to adapt their business models to Chinese conditions. The paper examines the direction, extent and nature of adaptation of the Japanese firms' business models in China and seeks to explore the changes in terms of conventional ‘Japanese’ international marketing behaviour. It finds that Japanese international marketing has evolved. While some aspects of success (organisational abilities, long-term orientation, aggressive growth strategies, ownership, R&D) have been diffused from developed to emerging markets, others (identification of customer needs and wants, information processing capabilities) have been extended. Segmentation and positioning are fine-tuned and are significantly different from Japanese strategies in developed markets. However, it would be a mistake to characterise a ‘Japanese’ strategy for the Chinese market, as no single approach predominates. Even within our sample of three case studies, strategies vary between the three firms and within each firm they vary over time. In all three cases, the Japanese MNEs are very conscious of consumer needs in China and the dynamics of these needs. A flexibility of approach is evident from Japanese MNEs in China. Overall, we conclude that Japanese MNEs are not ‘Western’ or ‘Japanese’ in their approach to the Chinese market, but are flexible, realistic and pragmatic.

The evolution of Japanese investment in China: from toys to textiles to business process outsourcing

The nature of Japanese firms' international activity in China underwent substantive change between 1995–2006. Japanese companies now compete in many more regions in China and have shifted their investment strategies in various provinces and municipalities to reflect new competitive realities. This creates substantial opportunities and challenges to scholars and practitioners alike. The challenge is to develop a nuanced understanding of sub-national variations in Japanese firms' strategies in China. The opportunities come from deepening research in three areas of scholarly endeavour: (1) subsidiary development and multinational firm strategy; (2) institutions and international business; and (3) offshoring, outsourcing and international business theory.

Choose and focus: Japanese business strategies for the 21st century

Choose and focus: Japanese business strategies for the 21st century

Re-Exploring on Japanese Values Diplomacy

Japan’s values diplomacy was proposed by Tarou Asou Taro Aso in 2007. And in the period of Fukuda ruling, this diplomacy contemporarily withdrew from Japanese diplomatic stage, but its democratic values concept is still displayed in diplomatic activities. After Tarou Asou Taro Aso became the prime minister, what would be the position of values diplomacy in Japanese strategy and national policy? On this issue, it is necessary to have a deep exploring into Japanese values diplomacy. In this text, the author thinks that we can not just regard this kind of diplomacy as an ideological method of blocking Sino-Russian strategic space. It is more an important component of the comprehensive security cooperation strategy in the 21st century, and it preoccupies an important status in Japanese national strategy and policy.

Japan and the East Asian Maritime Security Order: Prospects for Trilateral and Multilateral Cooperation

Japan has pursued a grand strategy of creating an East Asian maritime order with a special emphasis on situating a U.S.-Japan-China trilateral arrangement, based on cooperative security, at the core of an East Asian maritime regime. The United States and China have slowly adopted some of this Japanese strategy. This article examines the lessons East Asia has learned from several maritime security initiatives—America’s Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and its Regional Maritime Security Initiative (RMSI), Japan’s ReCAAP, and Southeast Asia’s MALSINDO—that were applied to the anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast and the Gulf of Aden. Despite the influence of Japan’s strategy for maritime security, paradoxically it has responded more slowly in its deployment to the Gulf of Aden, contributing to the traditional image of Japan as a reactive state. The institutional design of maritime regimes in the Gulf of Aden and in East Asia is thus incrementally unfolding; maritime cooperation is taking place in an ad hoc, bottom-up manner with very uncertain outcomes.

Shielding the ‘Hot Gates’: Submarine Warfare and Japanese Naval Strategy in the Cold War and Beyond (1976–2006)

The build-up of Japan's military apparatus in the 1990s and 2000s has been often regarded by security analysts as indicative of a departure from the country's Cold War strategic posture. Japan appears to be engaged in a process of militarisation that is eroding the foundations of its ‘exclusively defence-oriented’ policy. In the case of the archipelago's naval strategy, such assessments overlook the longstanding significance of a core feature of its defence policy, namely the surveillance of maritime crossroads delivering the wealth of the country. The paper reassesses the evolution of the Japanese strategy since the Cold War by examining the development of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force's submarine force, one of the key components of the defensive shield for these crossroads. The paper argues that with the changes in the security environment of the 1990s, Japan already fielded a mature force with state-of-the-art submarines, and that the rise of a new naval competitor aiming at controlling key strategic points along Japan's sea lanes reconfirmed the critical importance of submarine operations to Japanese national security.

Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia Clinical Studies and the Efficacy of Argatroban in Japan

Immune-mediated heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a life-threatening side effect of heparin therapy. HIT has been better recognized in Japan since April 2006 when prescribing information on heparin was revised to include HIT. Diagnosis and treatment of HIT in Japan, however, are still problematic because Japanese regulators have not yet approved any laboratory tests or pharmacological intervention for HIT, especially in patients with acute HIT who require surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). We report on three specific cases anticoagulated with argatroban for CPB showing the difficulty of anticoagulation management. We review several retrospective studies and a multicenter, prospective cohort study that suggest a lower incidence of HIT in Japan than what is diagnosed in Western countries. This may be due to ethnic factors and/or different clinical practices. We conducted a multicenter, nonrandomized, open-label trial showing the efficacy and safety of argatroban when carefully dosed. From this study we describe a Japanese strategy to diagnose and treat HIT that may be of value elsewhere.

Changes in Japanese strategy in 1939–1940 and the internationalization of the Sino–Japanese War

In the early stage of the Sino–Japanese War, Japan was trying hard to limit the conflict to within a scope where it could be resolved bilaterally between only the two nations involved. However, her actual behavior was in stark contrast to her wishful desire to be at peace with the United States, pushing the latter step by step instead in the direction of aiding China and thwarting Japan. Caught in a dilemma created as the United States abrogated the American–Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation, and faced with the changes in the European situation, Japan’s policy makers were eventually pushed by their obsession with the “New East Asian Order” and by their yearning for the “Extended New East Asian Order” which was to include Southeast Asia, deciding to steer the Sino–Japanese War in the direction of “international resolution,” which was just an alternate route to the same goal sought by China. Subsequently, not only did Japan refuse to withdraw from China, she actually took one step further in an expansion southwards, trying to kill several birds with one stone. The war thus spilled over from China to encompass a much greater area. In this process, Japan’s diplomatic corps was often several steps ahead of the military, reflecting the carefully considered background in Japanese policymaking.

Breaking the Mould: Japan´ s Subtle Shift from Exclusive Bilateralism to Modest Minilateralism

The strengthening of the US-Japan alliance under the KoizumiAbe governments has prompted a neorealist argument that Japan is aligning even more closely with the United States in order to balance China. (1) In practice, Japan's strategy for dealing with Chinese power is more complex than simply bandwagoning with the United States, which has been the foundation of its security policy for more than five decades. (2) The shift in Japanese strategy became evident under the Abe administration. Key differences can be discerned in the responses of the governments of Prime Ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe to China's rise. Although Prime Minister Abe sought to go even further than Prime Minister Koizumi in strengthening security ties with the United States, (3) the Koizumi administration gave sole priority to the United States, while the Abe administration adopted a dual-track approach, combining enhanced bilateralism with enhanced regionalism. A stronger US-Japan alliance was complemented by the buildup of much broader and deeper security ties with other countries in the Asia Pacific, with the aim of constructing a containment coalition against the growth of Chinese power. (4) The Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation with Australia in March 2007 was an important element of Japan's more complex balancing strategy. It should not be viewed in isolation but in concert with other similar initiatives taking place at the same time: parallel overtures to India and the promotion of concepts of security trilateralism (Japan-India-US/Japan-Australia-US) and quadrilateralism (Japan-US-Australia-India), backed by the overt rhetoric of shared values and references to partnerships based on common security interests. These manifestations of Prime Minister Abe's assertive diplomacy and his desire for closer security relations with like-minded states are quite distinct from the multilateral initiatives that have been an enduring feature of Japan's regional policy in the finance, trade and diplomatic spheres. In dealing with China, the Abe government did not just turn to multilateral initiatives as a means of shaping Japan's security environment in Asia. (5) In fact, the burgeoning security ties with countries outside the US-Japan alliance exemplified a minilateral rather than a multilateralist approach, which sought to formalize and regularize security relations among a small number of regional partners and establish a new grouping with a closed rather than open membership. (6) In this respect, the revamping of security ties with other Asia-Pacific states by the Abe government marked a subtle shift from exclusive bilateralism to modest minilateralism. (7) The new approach also had divergent implications for Japan's security relationship with the United States. On the one hand, it reinforced the US alliance where the United States was also an invited player in minilateral frameworks. The Australia-Japan Security Declaration, for example, foreshadowed stronger Japan-Australia-US trilateral security cooperation in the future. On the other hand, the Abe administration's willingness to sign a security declaration with Australia and overt security approaches to India appeared to reflect a desire to take independent steps to shore up Japan's security and exercise more autonomous influence over strategic developments in the Asia-Pacific region. The Japan-Australia Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation In March 2007, Japan took the unprecedented step of signing a security declaration with a third country outside the framework of its bilateral alliance with the United States. It was the first security agreement Japan had signed since the 1960 US-Japan Mutual Security Treaty and signalled a clear departure from Japan's exclusive security bilateralism centring on the United States. The declaration affirmed the existence of a Japan-Australia strategic partnership and committed each nation to close security consultation, enhanced cooperation in areas such as counter-terrorism, transnational crime, disarmament and peace keeping operations, and the provision of international public goods such as maritime security, and humanitarian and disaster relief. …

Japan's Emerging Maritime Strategy: Out of Sync or Out of Reach?

Japanese political and military leaders are allowing a gap between policy and maritime strategy to open, endangering the operational effectiveness of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. Tokyo has come to recognize the diplomatic value of nontraditional military missions such as disaster response and humanitarian relief—witness its robust response to the 2004 tsunami. Such missions now represent a core task of the JMSDF. At the same time, Tokyo has left the full range of traditional missions in place without supplying additional resources. Japanese maritime strategy urgently needs to be clarified, keeping ends in balance with means.

Trace the History of Japanese Innovation Strategy

Trace the History of Japanese Innovation Strategy

Japanese Radio Strategy in Korea

Japanese Radio Strategy in Korea

East Asian Regionalism and Changes of Japanese Strategy on Regionalism

East Asian Regionalism and Changes of Japanese Strategy on Regionalism

Screening of hepatocellular cancer: Japanese strategy

In Japan, hepatocellular carcinoma ranks as the fourth most common cancer and is responsible for about 40,000 deaths annually. Accordingly, the development of a screening system for its early detection will be linked to early treatment with a view to increasing survival. Algorithms for surveillance of hepatocellular carcinoma established in Japan will be useful for its early detection.

Author's Response: The Primacy of Foreign Policy in Modern Japan

[ 208 ] asia policy military exchanges have also resumed. Perhaps Abe will be Japan’s Goldilocks. Or, to stick with the theme of Northern European children’s stories, perhaps Abe will more closely resemble the wolf in sheep’s clothing; he certainly appeared in that guise when fumbling for an explanation in the case of the comfort women issue. The challenge for China is how to become socialized into a world order with rules and norms valuing democracy and human rights. Beijing’s test earlier this year of an anti-satellite weapon was not a step in the right direction. For the rest of us—particularly the United States—the challenge is to socialize ourselves to an emerging new order that makes room not only for Japanese sovereignty, but also for Chinese power—even in terms of moral authority.  Author’s Response: The Primacy of Foreign Policy in Modern Japan Kenneth B. Pyle Iam honored to have this group of leading political scientists commenting on my book and to have it paired with the valuable new work of Dick Samuels, one of our preeminent interpreters of Japanese politics. My intention in writing this book was not to “apply a political science theory,” as Mike Mochizuki suggested in his thoughtful commentary—although I found the international relations literature immensely suggestive. Rather, as T. J. Pempel observed, my approach was that of an historian working inductively from study of the evidence provided by the Meiji, prewar, and postwar eras where I have done my research. My interest was in what has motivated the Japanese in their foreign policy. What were the sources of Japan’s international conduct? Were there recurrent patterns or characteristics? Does Japan have a distinctive Kenneth B. Pyle is the Henry M. Jackson Professor of History and Asian Studies at the University of Washington, Co-Chairman of the Asia Policy Editorial Board, and Founding President of The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR). He is also founding editor of the Journal of Japanese Studies, a founding member of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation (1981–88), and from 1992 to 1995 was Chairman of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission. In 1999 he was decorated by the Emperor of Japan with the Order of the Rising Sun. [ 209 ] book review roundtable • japan rising & securing japan style? Above all, I wanted to understand what are “the profound forces” that have shaped modern Japan. I found that, owing in great part to its extraordinary staying power over this entire history, the conservative elite was the source of Japan’s distinctive style and strategy in dealing with the external order. Having deep roots in Japanese culture and history, this style and strategy manifested itself in a cluster of characteristics, especially in an extraordinary attentiveness to the configuration of power in the international system and its implications for Japan’s interests. So vulnerable was Japan as a backward and resource poor state that foreign policy had to take priority. Each time the international order changed, Japan’s pragmatic and opportunistic elite ensured that the nation would organize itself internally to succeed externally. Each of the major changes in Japanese strategy has been an adaptation to the new configuration of power in the world. Each however has been different—a variation on the theme of the primacy of foreign affairs in shaping a strategy and its supporting institutions. With the end of the Cold War system, the Yoshida Doctrine, the most brilliant and complex of all the modern adaptations to the external order, has been steadily unraveling. Seven of the eight self-binding restrictions that had been adopted to preclude entanglement in foreign commitments are being incrementally modified. These restrictions which were the essence of this grand strategy are the Eight No’s: no dispatch of JSDF abroad, no collective defense arrangements, no power projection ability, no more than 1% of GNP for defense, no nuclear arms, no sharing of military technology, no exporting of arms, no military use of space. Only the nuclear weapons restriction remains untouched (although now openly discussed). Because these restrictions were self-imposed, Japan has been able to calibrate the pace of change, as its leaders assess developments in the...

Beyond social capital: A critical approach

Introduction Sierk Horn and Adam R. Cross 1. The Rise of the Japanese Multinational Enterprise: Then and Now Peter J. Buckley Part 1: Japanese Investment Strategies for China 2. Competition Strategies of Japanese Manufacturing Firms in China mid-1990s and 2000s Tetsuo Abo 3. Spatial Determinants and Characteristics of Japanese FDI in China John Cassidy 4. The Evolution of Japanese Investment in China: From Toys to Textiles to BPO Andrew Delios 5. Cross-Border Development of Equipment Manufacturing Industries in Asia Markus Thinnes Part 2: Competitive and Localisation Strategies of Japanese MNEs 6. Cooperation or Competition in the Electronics Industry in China - Segmentation and Concentration Strategy with regard to R&D and Human Resources Development Sung-Jo Park 7. Pre-clusterization in Emerging Markets: The Toyota Group's Entry Process in China Faith Hatani 8. The Competitive Edge and Localisation Dilemma faced by Japanese Companies in China Hiroshi Itagaki Part 3: Japanese Management Practices in China 9. Multidomestic Industries from Japan and the Transfer of Organisational Practices to Chinese Subsidiaries Jos Gamble 10. Leapfrogging the Wheel of Retail: Japanese Retailing Strategies in China Sierk Horn and Katrin Horn 11. A Comparative Study of Product Development and Marketing in China and Japan Tomoo Marukawa Part 4: Japanese MNEs and Regional Integration in East and SE Asia 12. Intermodal Logistics Developments in North-East Asia - Challenges and Directions Burkhard Horn and Sam Dzever 13. Global Operations Management of Japanese companies in the Asian Region Masahiro Miyagawa 14. The Transformation of Japan Post into a Global Player Tim Goydke

Strategic Perspective of Green Consumerism: Learning from Japanese Management

Japan has achieved economic wealth, however, this is seriously depleting the natural resources, and destroying environment. Turning a militarily defeated nation into one of the world's great industrial giants has always been a great mystery. No all embracing theory has as yet evolved from the mutual mediation of historical and theoretical studies of local Japanese business management practices. The Japanese style of management is based on ethics, honour and credibility. Comparing the culture of Japan in which vagueness, ambiguity, and tentative decisions were acceptable, and preferable to American culture that valued fast decisions. Japanese corporate product development strategies are the dynamic and continuous process of adaptation to change in the environment. The Japan government established the Basic Law for Establishing a Recycling-based society. One significant change that has occurred is that Japanese companies seem to have gained a clearer understanding. This clarification has changed the attitude of these companies toward recycling. The proper recycling of products is helping to contribute to a more positive brand image for companies. So far there is no comprehensive source based on Japanese management which could prove useful to heads of companies in a country like India. Corporations looking to reap the benefits associated with eco-innovation and green marketing should make a public commitment to developing more eco-innovative products and educate consumers about what they personally can do to help.

地震波属性を用いたメタンハイドレート賦存層抽出の試み

The result of MITI Nankai Trough wells drilled in 1999-2000 proved the occurrence of methane hydrate in the Nankai Trough area from recovered core and well logging data. This result gave a big impact on both the Japanese strategy for energy and scientific interest. And it eventually motivated Japanese government to commence the national project named “Japan's Methane Hydrate Exploitation Program”, which started since 2001. From the results of the 2D and 3D seismic survey acquired in the Nankai Trough area by METI in 2001 and 2002, widely-distributed BSR was recognized in the area, which was expected the wide distribution of methane hydrate. For the volume quantification, we needed to evaluate reservoir parameters of methane hydrate reservoir such as thickness, saturation, and porosity of sediments. And we inferred methane hydrate bearing layers are inhomogeneous and discontinuous in space and depth. And we also found a good correspondence between methane hydrate layer and the zone which is characterized by seismic attribute as high P-wave velocity, high P-wave impedance, high S-wave impedance, low pseudo Poisson's ratio and high attenuation.Consequently, we conclude that the pre- and post-stack seismic attributes are so helpful tools to delineate the methane hydrate reservoir.

Performance management in SMEs: a Balanced Scorecard perspective

There have been substantial changes in business performance measurement in the last 20 years, which has led to the development of new performance-measurement frameworks, of which the Balanced Scorecard (BS) concept is considered to be among the most popular. The BS has been widely implemented in large organisations all around the world as a performance measurement framework and a strategy implementation methodology. This paper presents research of the BS from the perspective of manufacturing Small- to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) based in the West Midlands region of the UK. The results suggest that SMEs are not aware of the BS and hence, the usage rate is very low compared to large companies. Furthermore, SMEs were found to be oriented towards day-to-day activities resulting in largely ineffective performance management of important but intangible assets such as employees, information systems, organisational learning and innovation. A BS implementation plan for SMEs is proposed, which adopts the catchball process from the Japanese strategy implementation technique known as Hoshin Kanri or policy deployment.

Current Status of Fusion Reactor Structural Materials R&D

Japanese activities on fusion structural materials R&D have been well organized under the coordination of university programs and JAERI/NIMS programs more than two decades. Where, two categories of structural materials have been studied, those are; reduced activation ferritic/martensitic steels (RAFs) as reference material and vanadium alloys and SiC/SiC composite materials as advanced materials. The R&D histories of these candidate materials and the present status in Japan are reviewed with the brief explanation of Japanese strategy and current status of fusion reactor engineering R&D.