Inertia in Japanese organizations: knowledge management routines and failure to innovate

This paper argues that features of Japanese organizations, previously held to be the foundations of innovation, change and flexibility, can equally be significant barriers to change, innovation and adaptation in turbulent economic environments. This paper draws on two in-depth case studies of Japanese organizations. It shows how, in both cases, these firms displayed specific weaknesses in the ways in which they integrate and bundle knowledge, in particular around their research and development (R&D) functions. Despite the adoption of strategies of technological innovation and internationalization, the data suggest that the pursuit of both strategies is beset by barriers of inertia. Embedded internal network connections and knowledge-sharing routines between central R&D and other divisions are inappropriate for the revised strategy. Existing external connections, with preferred suppliers and customers within keiretsu structures, and close relationships with existing R&D partners retard these firms' strategic flexibility. With a limited variety of latent routines, knowledge, capabilities and agency to draw on when needed, these firms have limited organizational responsiveness and high levels of path-dependency.

Hedging effectiveness of total returns swaps: application to the Japanese market

The development of the real estate swap market offers many opportunities for investors to adjust the exposure of their portfolios to real estate. A number of OTC transactions have been observed in markets around the world. In this paper we examine the Japanese commercial real estate market from the point of view of an investor holding a portfolio of properties seeking to reduce the portfolio exposure to the real estate market by swapping an index of real estate for LIBOR. This paper explores the practicalities of hedging portfolios comprising small numbers of individual properties against an appropriate index. We use the returns from 74 properties owned by Japanese Real Estate Investment Trusts over the period up to September 2007. The paper also discusses and applies the appropriate stochastic processes required to model real estate returns in this application and presents alternative ways of reporting hedging effectiveness. We find that the development of the derivative does provide the capacity for hedging market risk but that the effectiveness of the hedge varies considerably over time. We explore the factors that cause this variability.

The bi-cultural option for international human resource management: the Japanese/Brazilian Nikkeijin example

This paper reports on an important subgroup of international boundary-spanners – immigrants and second or third generation migrants from the MNC's home country living in the subsidiary host country. We take as our example the Nikkeijin (Japanese immigrants and their descendants) in Brazil. Such bi-cultural people are a largely unexplored source of boundary-spanning internationally competent talent for multinational enterprises. Using two different surveys, we find that this group is recognized as a source of talent by Japanese MNCs, but that their HRM practices are not appropriate to attract and use them in their global talent management programmes.

Bank regulation and the process of internationalisation: a study of Japanese bank entry into London

The paper provides a theoretical insight into bank regulation and the process of internationalisation by examining the concepts of regulatory push and market pull within the context of Japanese bank entry into London during the 1980s. Rugman and Verbeke's [(1998). Corporate strategy and international environmental policy. Journal of International Business Studies, 29(4), 819–833] Consistency of Home and Host Government Goals model is utilised to structure the discussion, which centres on a situation where there is a conflict of goals between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and the home government but goal alignment between MNEs and the host government. As such the paper examines a relatively under-researched aspect of internationalisation and concludes that in certain circumstances internationalisation can occur despite great ‘psychic distance’. The paper also argues that although bank regulation can lead to a conflict situation it can also be conducive to the development of a strong home base and the development of firm specific advantages.

What makes a good research paper?

The annual round of refereeing for the ARCOM conference always prompts a stimulating debate among the committee members as to what constitutes a good research paper. Clearly, there is a good deal of subjectivity in distinguishing good from bad, but there may be some basic characteristics that mark out a research paper from any other kind of paper, and it is good research papers that we would like to encourage at the annual conference.

Key to the paper and social wasps of Central Europe (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

A determination key to the Central European paper wasps (Polistinae – Polistes Latreille, 1802 – eight species) and social wasps (Vespinae – 11 species: Vespa Linnaeus, 1758 – one species, Vespula Thomson, 1869 – four species, Dolichovespula Rohwer, 1916 – six species) is given. Distribution and biotope requirements of all species in the Czech Republic and Slovakia are briefly mentioned. All social wasps occur more or less regularly in both countries. Four paper wasps are relatively common but four other species (Polistes atrimandibularis Zimmermann, 1930, P. sulcifer Zimmermann, 1930, P. associus Kohl, 1898, and P. gallicus (Linnaeus, 1767)) are very rare with the Czech Republic and/or Slovakia at the northern edge of their range.

Host niches and defensive extended phenotypes structure parasitoid wasp communities

Oak galls are spectacular extended phenotypes of gallwasp genes in host oak tissues and have evolved complex morphologies that serve, in part, to exclude parasitoid natural enemies. Parasitoids and their insect herbivore hosts have coevolved to produce diverse communities comprising about a third of all animal species. The factors structuring these communities, however, remain poorly understood. An emerging theme in community ecology is the need to consider the effects of host traits, shaped by both natural selection and phylogenetic history, on associated communities of natural enemies. Here we examine the impact of host traits and phylogenetic relatedness on 48 ecologically closed and species-rich communities of parasitoids attacking gall-inducing wasps on oaks. Gallwasps induce the development of spectacular and structurally complex galls whose species- and generation-specific morphologies are the extended phenotypes of gallwasp genes. All the associated natural enemies attack their concealed hosts through gall tissues, and several structural gall traits have been shown to enhance defence against parasitoid attack. Here we explore the significance of these and other host traits in predicting variation in parasitoid community structure across gallwasp species. In particular, we test the "Enemy Hypothesis,'' which predicts that galls with similar morphology will exclude similar sets of parasitoids and therefore have similar parasitoid communities. Having controlled for phylogenetic patterning in host traits and communities, we found significant correlations between parasitoid community structure and several gall structural traits (toughness, hairiness, stickiness), supporting the Enemy Hypothesis. Parasitoid community structure was also consistently predicted by components of the hosts' spatiotemporal niche, particularly host oak taxonomy and gall location (e.g., leaf versus bud versus seed). The combined explanatory power of structural and spatiotemporal traits on community structure can be high, reaching 62% in one analysis. The observed patterns derive mainly from partial niche specialisation of highly generalist parasitoids with broad host ranges (>20 hosts), rather than strict separation of enemies with narrower host ranges, and so may contribute to maintenance of the richness of generalist parasitoids in gallwasp communities. Though evolutionary escape from parasitoids might most effectively be achieved via changes in host oak taxon, extreme conservatism in this trait for gallwasps suggests that selection is more likely to have acted on gall morphology and location. Any escape from parasitoids associated with evolutionary shifts in these traits has probably only been transient, however, due to subsequent recruitment of parasitoid species already attacking other host galls with similar trait combinations.