Munehiko Itoh - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Munehiko Itoh

SpringerBriefs in Economics, 2018

To address the issue of international HRM adaptability, we need to conduct a comparison of variou... more To address the issue of international HRM adaptability, we need to conduct a comparison of various ASEAN Plus Three countries, including Japan. In other words, to have employees actively engage in behaviors that are desirable for their companies, we must determine the most effective means of implementing HRM by identifying the differences between each region through conducting by-country analysis. Accordingly, in this study, we will focus on three countries by looking at Japan as the home country, and considering Thailand and China as Japanese companies’ main foreign investment countries. By targeting local employees of Japanese companies in these countries, we will attempt to find a solution to determine the type of HRM practices that are needed to promote employee behaviors required to run efficient SCM operations, and to identify the differences between these countries.

Transactions of the Academic Association for Organizational Science, 2019

SpringerBriefs in Economics, 2018

In the previous chapter, we gave an overview of the formation of automobile supply chain in ASEAN... more In the previous chapter, we gave an overview of the formation of automobile supply chain in ASEAN, particularly in Thailand. In this chapter, we will analyze the characteristics of automobile supply chain in ASEAN. In this analysis, we will focus on the characteristics of Japanese automotive industry and special attributes of ASEAN region. Specifically, we will analyze the relationship between automobile manufacturers and their parts suppliers, particularly on a special relationship called "KEIRETSU". Beyond just providing technical guidance, a wide range of relationships such as human resource training has been constructed in KEIRETSU. In this chapter, we will review related preceding studies in conducting this analysis. Keywords ASEAN Á Automobile industry Á Supply chain management Industrial park 2.1 Introduction In general, reasons for overseas expansion include accessibility toward consumption area, ease of material/parts procurement, ease of securing human resources, preferential treatment policies of invested country's government, high local scientific and technological standard, low wages, and reduction of trade costs (Kuemmerle 1999; Dunning 2009). When these conditions are met, a typical company would start investing overseas and start raising the level of localization through a gradual process (Dunning 1993).

The purpose of this study is to examine the supplier development (SD) of Japanese automobile supp... more The purpose of this study is to examine the supplier development (SD) of Japanese automobile suppliers in ASEAN. The globalization of automobile supply chain is progressing rapidly in recent years. With this globalization of the supply chain, it becomes necessary for Japanese automobile manufacturers to implement SD overseas. This applies not only to the relationship between automobile manufacturers and tier-1 suppliers but also to the relationship between tier-1 suppliers and tier-2 suppliers. However, it is difficult to execute SD effectively for tier-2 suppliers who are small and medium-sized companies. We indicated that the Japanese supplier Denso is strengthening its SD by combining SD by headquarters and SD by local initiative. While tier-1 suppliers tend to enforce SD unilaterally on tier-2 suppliers from start to finish, it is preferable for tier-1 suppliers to encourage the voluntary efforts of tier-2 suppliers and to execute SD sustainably.

SpringerBriefs in Economics, 2018

This study investigates the competitiveness of Japanese automobile makers by focusing on how supp... more This study investigates the competitiveness of Japanese automobile makers by focusing on how supply chains are constructed. Recently, out of rapidly growing automobile market in ASEAN members, analysis was done on Japanese automobile makers’ supply chain in Thailand, which is also the biggest market. From the analysis, it was discovered that Japanese automobile makers not only localize automobile manufacturers but also train the local suppliers in order to increase the quality and productivity. Furthermore, investigation was done on multi-supplier companies, who despite being KEIRETSU still provided parts for other automobile makers.

This study examines the patterns for building automotive supply chains in high-growth member coun... more This study examines the patterns for building automotive supply chains in high-growth member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in recent years and ways to effectively manage them. In particular, the study focuses on transactional supply chain relationships in the automotive industry. It also (1) identifies supply chain partnerships from the perspective of sales and service and not just production; (2) explains the supply chain localization process; (3) explicates trade practices within supply chains; and (4) examines, from three perspectives, the differences among country factors that impact the behavior of manufacturing industry employees. Currently, the expansion of automotive markets in ASEAN countries is causing major changes in how supply chains are created in the automotive industry, including for Japanese firms. At the end of the study, we offer thoughts on management on the basis of supply chain survey results from the automotive industry in Tha...

Kobe economic & business review, 2006

Commoditization refers to the phenomenon where prices are declining so rapidly that market compet... more Commoditization refers to the phenomenon where prices are declining so rapidly that market competitors are unable to earn a reasonable profit even though the market is expanding and there is strong demand. This sort of commoditization can be observed in many digital device industries, but in this paper, by taking up digital still camera industry, a representative digital product, and analyzing the specifications and prices of approximately 560 models brought to market from 1995 to 2003, we analyze that a rapid decline in price is occurring, and reveal their causes. Our analysis reveals that the modules used in digital camera designs are remarkably uniform, the industry is becoming horizontally specialized, due to new market entrants developing similar platforms made up of components with the same specifications, and price declines are occurring because product specifications between competing companies are becoming homogenous.

This study analyzed how Nissan and its parts suppliers are linking their local product developmen... more This study analyzed how Nissan and its parts suppliers are linking their local product development and production in Thailand and China to achieve the localization of cars and molds. Since China is the world’s largest car manufacturer and Thailand is the center of ASEAN car industry, we focused on China and Thailand as the target of our case study. By conducting the case study on the localization of car development in these countries that are experiencing the rapid expansion of car production, this research makes comparative analysis on the localization of product development related to molds and dies in host countries at an in-depth level.

Journal of Computational Social Science, 2018

Matching salient points is a key step in visual tasks. However, many of the existing feature repr... more Matching salient points is a key step in visual tasks. However, many of the existing feature representation methods that are widely applied to these tasks, such as scale invariant feature transform (SIFT), suffer from a lack of representation invariance. This shortcoming limits the image representation stability and salient-point matching performance, particularly when images with a great deal of noise information are being processed (e.g., historical documents). We propose a general and effective transformation approach called RIFT (reversal-invariant feature transformation) for feature-robust representation. RIFT achieves gradient binning invariance for feature extraction by transforming the conventional gradient into a polar one. Experimental results on the Kanebo database and three fine-grained reference classification datasets demonstrated that RIFT can robustly improve the performance of local descriptors for image classification without sacrificing computational efficiency.

Based on previous studies on knowledge transfer, we examined how Toyota has been advancing locali... more Based on previous studies on knowledge transfer, we examined how Toyota has been advancing localization of supply chain in ASEAN, especially in Thailand. In particular, we revealed that Toyota has been providing technical support to its suppliers by establishing a new specialized department in charge of technical support called the “Local Parts Development Division”. Developing the suppliers is necessary in developing countries such as ASEAN countries where industrial competitiveness is not yet well developed. However, most of the previous studies did not shed light on how Japanese companies have been building their supply chain in developing countries. This study is significant in that, and it examined how the Japanese automobile company “Toyota” recognized the industrial competitiveness in developing countries and built its supply chain.

Foundations of Management, 2021

For the last several decades, global airline alliances have ensured their market presence in the ... more For the last several decades, global airline alliances have ensured their market presence in the aviation industry. Scholars have focused on the effects of alliance affiliation for airlines and what the competitive advantages of alliances are. However, these issues have been discussed in relation to operational aspects. The quality of strategic communication can be an important factor in achieving a competitive advantage and realizing a differentiation strategy. This study assessed the differences in quality of strategic communication between the three leading alliance groups (oneworld, SkyTeam, and Star Alliance) and a non-alliance group. Comprehensive content analysis was implemented using the letters of chief executive officers (CEOs) of 46 airlines. We found that the non-alliance group has more ideal CEO letters than the alliance groups, and the main topics and quality of CEO letters of alliance group differed. This study provides a novel insight into the competitive advantage o...

Sustainability, 2020

Over the past several decades, the aviation industry has been reshaped, centering on global allia... more Over the past several decades, the aviation industry has been reshaped, centering on global alliances, and these have grown exponentially. However, it is still not clear whether they are achieving sustained competitive advantages, and what are the specific competitive advantages of the three alliances (oneworld, SkyTeam, Star Alliance) arising on the customer side. This study aims to examine whether global alliance groups outperform the non-alliance group, how the three alliances differ regarding passengers’ perceptions, and what their competitive advantages are. A hybrid text mining analysis was adopted as this study’s method. Frequency tests, t-tests, one-way analysis of variance tests, and three-step mediated regression analyses were performed using 6393 ordinal and word-of-mouth (WOM) data. We found that the degree of passengers’ perceptions of alliances was low, the non-alliance group outperformed the alliance groups, and there were no significant differences between alliances ...

SpringerBriefs in Economics, 2018

Research Series has been established as a subseries of the SpringerBrief in Economics Series, but... more Research Series has been established as a subseries of the SpringerBrief in Economics Series, but in fact this exciting interdisciplinary collection encompasses scholarly research not only in the economics but also in law, political science, business and management, accounting, international relations, and other subdisciplines within the social sciences. As a national university with a special strength in the social sciences, Kobe University actively promotes interdisciplinary research. This series is not limited only to research emerging from Kobe University's faculties of social sciences but also welcomes cross-disciplinary research that integrates studies in the arts and sciences. Kobe University, founded in 1902, is the second oldest national higher education institution for commerce in Japan and is now a preeminent institution for social science research and education in the country. Currently, the social sciences section includes four faculties-Law, Economics, Business Administration, and International Cooperation Studies-and the Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration (RIEB). There are some 230-plus researchers who belong to these faculties and conduct joint research through the Center for Social Systems Innovation and the Organization for Advanced and Integrated Research, Kobe University. This book series comprises academic works by researchers in the social sciences at Kobe University as well as their collaborators at affiliated institutions, Kobe University alumni and their colleagues, and renowned scholars from around the world who have worked with academic staff at Kobe University. Although traditionally the research of Japanese scholars has been publicized mainly in the Japanese language, Kobe University strives to promote publication and dissemination of works in English in order to further contribute to the global academic community.

HOLISTICA – Journal of Business and Public Administration, 2019

A mission statement has a significant meaning as the initial and essential step in a company’s st... more A mission statement has a significant meaning as the initial and essential step in a company’s strategic planning process. Previous studies have pointed out the necessity of monitoring and longitudinal study of corporate mission statements as they should be continuously revised against changes in companies’ strategies and business environment. This study aims to shed light on what types of strategies and values are currently highlighted in companies’ mission statements in comparison with the findings of a well-known previous study. Therefore, this study conducted a content analysis of 491 Fortune 500 companies’ mission statements. As a result, we found that “philosophy” is mostly highlighted and “profitability” is not emphasized in contemporary companies’ mission statements. Compared to the past study, these findings imply that there have been dramatic changes in the content of corporate mission statements. Besides, this study divided 491 Fortune 500 companies into two groups, high ...

SpringerBriefs in Economics, 2018

To address the issue of international HRM adaptability, we need to conduct a comparison of variou... more To address the issue of international HRM adaptability, we need to conduct a comparison of various ASEAN Plus Three countries, including Japan. In other words, to have employees actively engage in behaviors that are desirable for their companies, we must determine the most effective means of implementing HRM by identifying the differences between each region through conducting by-country analysis. Accordingly, in this study, we will focus on three countries by looking at Japan as the home country, and considering Thailand and China as Japanese companies’ main foreign investment countries. By targeting local employees of Japanese companies in these countries, we will attempt to find a solution to determine the type of HRM practices that are needed to promote employee behaviors required to run efficient SCM operations, and to identify the differences between these countries.

Transactions of the Academic Association for Organizational Science, 2019

SpringerBriefs in Economics, 2018

In the previous chapter, we gave an overview of the formation of automobile supply chain in ASEAN... more In the previous chapter, we gave an overview of the formation of automobile supply chain in ASEAN, particularly in Thailand. In this chapter, we will analyze the characteristics of automobile supply chain in ASEAN. In this analysis, we will focus on the characteristics of Japanese automotive industry and special attributes of ASEAN region. Specifically, we will analyze the relationship between automobile manufacturers and their parts suppliers, particularly on a special relationship called "KEIRETSU". Beyond just providing technical guidance, a wide range of relationships such as human resource training has been constructed in KEIRETSU. In this chapter, we will review related preceding studies in conducting this analysis. Keywords ASEAN Á Automobile industry Á Supply chain management Industrial park 2.1 Introduction In general, reasons for overseas expansion include accessibility toward consumption area, ease of material/parts procurement, ease of securing human resources, preferential treatment policies of invested country's government, high local scientific and technological standard, low wages, and reduction of trade costs (Kuemmerle 1999; Dunning 2009). When these conditions are met, a typical company would start investing overseas and start raising the level of localization through a gradual process (Dunning 1993).

The purpose of this study is to examine the supplier development (SD) of Japanese automobile supp... more The purpose of this study is to examine the supplier development (SD) of Japanese automobile suppliers in ASEAN. The globalization of automobile supply chain is progressing rapidly in recent years. With this globalization of the supply chain, it becomes necessary for Japanese automobile manufacturers to implement SD overseas. This applies not only to the relationship between automobile manufacturers and tier-1 suppliers but also to the relationship between tier-1 suppliers and tier-2 suppliers. However, it is difficult to execute SD effectively for tier-2 suppliers who are small and medium-sized companies. We indicated that the Japanese supplier Denso is strengthening its SD by combining SD by headquarters and SD by local initiative. While tier-1 suppliers tend to enforce SD unilaterally on tier-2 suppliers from start to finish, it is preferable for tier-1 suppliers to encourage the voluntary efforts of tier-2 suppliers and to execute SD sustainably.

SpringerBriefs in Economics, 2018

This study investigates the competitiveness of Japanese automobile makers by focusing on how supp... more This study investigates the competitiveness of Japanese automobile makers by focusing on how supply chains are constructed. Recently, out of rapidly growing automobile market in ASEAN members, analysis was done on Japanese automobile makers’ supply chain in Thailand, which is also the biggest market. From the analysis, it was discovered that Japanese automobile makers not only localize automobile manufacturers but also train the local suppliers in order to increase the quality and productivity. Furthermore, investigation was done on multi-supplier companies, who despite being KEIRETSU still provided parts for other automobile makers.

This study examines the patterns for building automotive supply chains in high-growth member coun... more This study examines the patterns for building automotive supply chains in high-growth member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in recent years and ways to effectively manage them. In particular, the study focuses on transactional supply chain relationships in the automotive industry. It also (1) identifies supply chain partnerships from the perspective of sales and service and not just production; (2) explains the supply chain localization process; (3) explicates trade practices within supply chains; and (4) examines, from three perspectives, the differences among country factors that impact the behavior of manufacturing industry employees. Currently, the expansion of automotive markets in ASEAN countries is causing major changes in how supply chains are created in the automotive industry, including for Japanese firms. At the end of the study, we offer thoughts on management on the basis of supply chain survey results from the automotive industry in Tha...

Kobe economic & business review, 2006

Commoditization refers to the phenomenon where prices are declining so rapidly that market compet... more Commoditization refers to the phenomenon where prices are declining so rapidly that market competitors are unable to earn a reasonable profit even though the market is expanding and there is strong demand. This sort of commoditization can be observed in many digital device industries, but in this paper, by taking up digital still camera industry, a representative digital product, and analyzing the specifications and prices of approximately 560 models brought to market from 1995 to 2003, we analyze that a rapid decline in price is occurring, and reveal their causes. Our analysis reveals that the modules used in digital camera designs are remarkably uniform, the industry is becoming horizontally specialized, due to new market entrants developing similar platforms made up of components with the same specifications, and price declines are occurring because product specifications between competing companies are becoming homogenous.

This study analyzed how Nissan and its parts suppliers are linking their local product developmen... more This study analyzed how Nissan and its parts suppliers are linking their local product development and production in Thailand and China to achieve the localization of cars and molds. Since China is the world’s largest car manufacturer and Thailand is the center of ASEAN car industry, we focused on China and Thailand as the target of our case study. By conducting the case study on the localization of car development in these countries that are experiencing the rapid expansion of car production, this research makes comparative analysis on the localization of product development related to molds and dies in host countries at an in-depth level.

Journal of Computational Social Science, 2018

Matching salient points is a key step in visual tasks. However, many of the existing feature repr... more Matching salient points is a key step in visual tasks. However, many of the existing feature representation methods that are widely applied to these tasks, such as scale invariant feature transform (SIFT), suffer from a lack of representation invariance. This shortcoming limits the image representation stability and salient-point matching performance, particularly when images with a great deal of noise information are being processed (e.g., historical documents). We propose a general and effective transformation approach called RIFT (reversal-invariant feature transformation) for feature-robust representation. RIFT achieves gradient binning invariance for feature extraction by transforming the conventional gradient into a polar one. Experimental results on the Kanebo database and three fine-grained reference classification datasets demonstrated that RIFT can robustly improve the performance of local descriptors for image classification without sacrificing computational efficiency.

Based on previous studies on knowledge transfer, we examined how Toyota has been advancing locali... more Based on previous studies on knowledge transfer, we examined how Toyota has been advancing localization of supply chain in ASEAN, especially in Thailand. In particular, we revealed that Toyota has been providing technical support to its suppliers by establishing a new specialized department in charge of technical support called the “Local Parts Development Division”. Developing the suppliers is necessary in developing countries such as ASEAN countries where industrial competitiveness is not yet well developed. However, most of the previous studies did not shed light on how Japanese companies have been building their supply chain in developing countries. This study is significant in that, and it examined how the Japanese automobile company “Toyota” recognized the industrial competitiveness in developing countries and built its supply chain.

Foundations of Management, 2021

For the last several decades, global airline alliances have ensured their market presence in the ... more For the last several decades, global airline alliances have ensured their market presence in the aviation industry. Scholars have focused on the effects of alliance affiliation for airlines and what the competitive advantages of alliances are. However, these issues have been discussed in relation to operational aspects. The quality of strategic communication can be an important factor in achieving a competitive advantage and realizing a differentiation strategy. This study assessed the differences in quality of strategic communication between the three leading alliance groups (oneworld, SkyTeam, and Star Alliance) and a non-alliance group. Comprehensive content analysis was implemented using the letters of chief executive officers (CEOs) of 46 airlines. We found that the non-alliance group has more ideal CEO letters than the alliance groups, and the main topics and quality of CEO letters of alliance group differed. This study provides a novel insight into the competitive advantage o...

Sustainability, 2020

Over the past several decades, the aviation industry has been reshaped, centering on global allia... more Over the past several decades, the aviation industry has been reshaped, centering on global alliances, and these have grown exponentially. However, it is still not clear whether they are achieving sustained competitive advantages, and what are the specific competitive advantages of the three alliances (oneworld, SkyTeam, Star Alliance) arising on the customer side. This study aims to examine whether global alliance groups outperform the non-alliance group, how the three alliances differ regarding passengers’ perceptions, and what their competitive advantages are. A hybrid text mining analysis was adopted as this study’s method. Frequency tests, t-tests, one-way analysis of variance tests, and three-step mediated regression analyses were performed using 6393 ordinal and word-of-mouth (WOM) data. We found that the degree of passengers’ perceptions of alliances was low, the non-alliance group outperformed the alliance groups, and there were no significant differences between alliances ...

SpringerBriefs in Economics, 2018

Research Series has been established as a subseries of the SpringerBrief in Economics Series, but... more Research Series has been established as a subseries of the SpringerBrief in Economics Series, but in fact this exciting interdisciplinary collection encompasses scholarly research not only in the economics but also in law, political science, business and management, accounting, international relations, and other subdisciplines within the social sciences. As a national university with a special strength in the social sciences, Kobe University actively promotes interdisciplinary research. This series is not limited only to research emerging from Kobe University's faculties of social sciences but also welcomes cross-disciplinary research that integrates studies in the arts and sciences. Kobe University, founded in 1902, is the second oldest national higher education institution for commerce in Japan and is now a preeminent institution for social science research and education in the country. Currently, the social sciences section includes four faculties-Law, Economics, Business Administration, and International Cooperation Studies-and the Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration (RIEB). There are some 230-plus researchers who belong to these faculties and conduct joint research through the Center for Social Systems Innovation and the Organization for Advanced and Integrated Research, Kobe University. This book series comprises academic works by researchers in the social sciences at Kobe University as well as their collaborators at affiliated institutions, Kobe University alumni and their colleagues, and renowned scholars from around the world who have worked with academic staff at Kobe University. Although traditionally the research of Japanese scholars has been publicized mainly in the Japanese language, Kobe University strives to promote publication and dissemination of works in English in order to further contribute to the global academic community.

HOLISTICA – Journal of Business and Public Administration, 2019

A mission statement has a significant meaning as the initial and essential step in a company’s st... more A mission statement has a significant meaning as the initial and essential step in a company’s strategic planning process. Previous studies have pointed out the necessity of monitoring and longitudinal study of corporate mission statements as they should be continuously revised against changes in companies’ strategies and business environment. This study aims to shed light on what types of strategies and values are currently highlighted in companies’ mission statements in comparison with the findings of a well-known previous study. Therefore, this study conducted a content analysis of 491 Fortune 500 companies’ mission statements. As a result, we found that “philosophy” is mostly highlighted and “profitability” is not emphasized in contemporary companies’ mission statements. Compared to the past study, these findings imply that there have been dramatic changes in the content of corporate mission statements. Besides, this study divided 491 Fortune 500 companies into two groups, high ...