Academic literature on the topic 'Corporations, Japanese – Europe'

In the context of globalization, the Japanese government emphasizes the importance of reinforcing the free trade system. Due to European Union’s (EU) reluctance, the free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations between Japan and the EU took 4 years to conclude. However, Brexit prompted the conclusion of Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU as to maintain the economic interests of both sides after the British exit from the EU. The UK wants to maintain economic relations with Japan and to become a ‘Global Britain’ in the post-Brexit era. This article analyses both Japan–EU and Japan–UK FTAs. The core of the article looks at the impact of Brexit on Japan’s access to the European single market through a review of Japanese sectors and large corporations, particularly the automobile industry.

Automobile industry is one of the key factors contributing to the global economy as it has an impact on both the economic situation in other sectors of economy which produce for the demands of the automotive market and also on other business areas such as services and trade. The subject of this article is to analyse the evolution of the Japanese car industry as an important element of the global economy. The activities and dynamics of Japanese automotive companies are presented as well as their impact on the current shape of the European car industry. When starting the production of cars, especially in the early stages of the automative industry development, the Japanese largely exploited modern technology acquired through the purchase of licenses in Western Europe and the USA. As a result of strenghtening global process of concentration of capital, new corporations are formed in the Japanese automotive market. These corporations are characterised by constantly increasing economic potential. In the next part of the article it has been noted that global corporations, including automobile corporations, seek new effective locations for their factories but also various regions create different conditions to attract new investments to their territory. The article then goes on to present the spatial structure of production of Japanese automotive companies in the world according to different continents in years 1985–2008 and then examines the dynamic changes in the scale of production for individual continents. The next part of the article concetrates on the spatial structure of passenger cars and components factories, as well as on research and development centers belonging to Japanese automotive companies located in the European Union. The analysis of the structure and size of employment in factories based in the European Union has also been made.

This research is aiming at discussing the benefits of learning English and Japanese languages simultaneously to cross-cultural competency. This article is also having a further discussion about the human resources development benefits gained from learning the two languages and cultures. English and Japanese are two languages that are famous as foreign languages for international business. It is because The United States, Japan, and the major economic forces of Western Europe are developed countries whose infrastructures and well-established financial markets are conducive to the operation and potential success of multinational corporations (MNCs). This study is a qualitative study with explanatory research as its method. The data gained by analyzing the perceptions drawn from the existing literature of various scholars documented in journals and books connected to Japanese and English languages, as well as human resources development issues. The results showed that learning Japanese and English simultaneously is also a good method in teaching the worker or students that will work in an international setting in having the comprehension of cross-cultural issues in general. The differences of those languages in terms of culture such as direct and indirect behavior in speaking, personal address system, and polite speech will become an example of understanding two different foreign language categories: high and low context cultures.

Japan has been experiencing a long decline in its workforce. Companies in Japan are eager to retain their existing employees and diversify their recruitment. Employees with long-term and open-ended employment are also switching companies at a greater rate. Consequently, Japanese firms have started paying attention to employee subjective wellbeing, now recognized as a source of higher job performance. This study empirically explores the predictors of subjective wellbeing at work for Japanese regular employees beyond those already identified in Europe and U.S.-centric research. We applied a two-stage design, consisting of interviews and a questionnaire survey to identify those factors that promote subjective wellbeing in Japanese corporations where long-time employment and group cohesiveness and achievement are valued over individual achievement. We identified eight factors affecting subjective wellbeing at work for Japanese regular employees: meaningful work, relationships, culture, workspace, evaluation, time off, financial benefits, and diversity at work. Consequent regression analyses highlighted the discriminant importance of work relationships, evaluation, diversity, workspace, and meaningful work. Eudaimonic and hedonic happiness were found to be caused by different factors. As expected, meaningful work led to eudaimonic satisfaction of life at work in Japan. In contrast hedonic happiness was affected by factors external to work itself, such as work relationships, work evaluation and diversity. Interestingly, diversity at work was found to have an ambivalent effect as it was related to both positive and negative affects at work. These findings will help Japanese companies create a work environment that can maximize regular employees’ wellbeing, job performance, and retention.

Abstract. Introduction. The study examines the development of corporate social responsibility in banking institutions around the world. It is established that the foreign experience of corporate social responsibility is diverse, as it is related to the historical conditions of development and the peculiarities of the country's mentality. It has been found that in continental European countries, the concept of CSR has been more widely interpreted in the relationship between society and business; the American model of social responsibility implies greater independence of corporations; in continental Europe, there is a hidden form of corporate social responsibility; The Chinese model of corporate social responsibility is a hybrid of continental and American models; the Japanese model of corporate social responsibility is focused on the internal environment of the city's enterprise and assumes that the company has a solidary reputation. The analysis of the directions of development of corporate social responsibility of foreign banking institutions is carried out. As for Ukraine, the most common areas of CSR, including in the banking sector, are: conscientious payment of taxes, compliance with the law, charity. While enterprises of foreign origin, in addition to the above aspects, also see compliance with civil society, care for the environment, care for employees and more.It is proved that all these models of corporate social responsibility describe a different conceptual understanding of the goals of the organization, its society, the relationship of the organization with its internal and external environment. Based on this understanding, the organization can use various tools of corporate social responsibility to achieve its strategic goals.

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> This report searches for the Japanese view of beauty and nature through a study of the mapping of the transformation of a mountain’s shape. A normal map primarily intends to express existing shapes, but this report maps the vanished shape of a mountain from the limestone mining of its slopes. This is done to consider how its vanished shape has impacted the Japanese view of beauty and nature. The mountain studied is Mount Bukō located in Chichibu City and Yokozemachi in Saitama Prefecture. Mount Bukō is suitable for limestone mining, and during the Edō Period, limestone was mined on this mountain to obtain material for mortar and fertilizer. In the Meiji Period, cement was used in Japan to construct buildings and surface roads, and limestone (raw material for cement) was produced and consumed in large quantities. During the Taishō Period, corporations started to mine vast quantities of limestone. At Mount Bukō, the shape of the mountain was heavily transformed by limestone mining (Figure 1,2).</p><p>However, during the 1940s, Mount Bukō was mentioned as a candidate site for a national park. In 1957, the entire area &amp;ndash; including the mining site &amp;ndash; was designated the Saitama Prefectural Natural Park. Parks are designated in Japan in imitation of Europe and America, and their major purposes are to preserve beautiful scenery and serve as places for residents’ recreational activities. Thus, by the Meiji Period, national parks such as Nikko National Park (which includes the Tōshōgū Shrine) were already being designated. Considering the above historical background, the movement to designate Mount Bukō as a park can be understood as an effort to preserve its scenery and provide a place for residents’ activities. But limestone mining continues to transform the shape of the mountain as, for example, a total of roughly 6.99 million tons of limestone were mined on Mount Bukō in 2016. By analyzing the facts of this case, this study can portray the Japanese consciousness of the change of the shapes of mountains and clarify the nature of their view of beauty and nature in mountains.</p><p>This paper reports on the preparation of a stereoscopic map based on topographical maps and photos created since the start of the Meiji Period, Chichibu <i>fudasho</i> temple drawings from the Edō Period, and the chronological mapping of the shape of the mountain before and since its designation as a park. Mapping using diverse source materials to represent exposed rock and landslides caused by limestone mining permits a detailed study that would be impossible based on topographical maps lacking contour lines, photographs, or drawings from one direction, primarily from the northern side of the mountain (Figure 3,4). This study shows which parts of the disappearing Mount Bukō are important to people and which parts of the remaining mountain shape they value highly. It also portrays the Japanese view of beauty and nature from a cultural perspective to aesthetically evaluate artificially formed “nature” as seen in temple gardens or bonsai.</p>

Within a CSR framework, this paper reports on an extensive array of studies that explore consumer and employee issues with businesses in 13 countries, including the United States and countries in Eastern and Western Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. The relevance of this study is based on the idea that consumer trust and fair treatment of employees are both core components of CSR and vital elements of economic efficiency and satisfaction from both supplier and customer perspectives. The questionnaires included open-ended inquiries which employed the technique of unaided recall, alternatively known as “top of mind” awareness. This method’s strength is that it provides minimum direction to respondents, thus avoiding interviewer bias. The resulting data were examined and classified using the method of content analysis. The results indicate that in Mexico and Argentina most consumer complaints involved price, while in Russia, China, and India consumers complained about aspects of product policy. Only Brazilian consumers registered their major concerns as complaints on service. The complaints about corporate policy focused on the poor treatment of employees. The between-country contrasts were often large; for example, 26% of Japanese respondents expressed concerns about employee issues whereas such complaints were limited to 3% of our Mexican sample. The strength of the current research is the combination of the breadth of the study (13 countries) coupled with the employment of national probability samples. The corresponding limitation stems from the limited depth of inquiry associated with the methodology employed and the inherent complexity of cross-national comparisons. The key implication of the paper is that both customers and employees have numerous complaints regarding the treatment they receive from corporations, but these issues show significant differences between the countries in the sample. In-depth examination of the individual countries is one of several fruitful areas suggested for further research. Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Consumer Complaints, Price, Product, Service.

This article is a continuation of the report "Japan's new competitive advantage. Arguments and proposals for structural reorientation" published in the "Comparative Economic Research for Central & Eastern Europe", vol. 13, no 1/2/2010, which mainly dealt with the role of the private sector's cooperation with governmental agencies. The discussion presented below is divided into four sections. Section one outlines the history of new ITC firms (mobile communications, computers) after the year 2000 and addresses innovation factors. Section two characterizes Japan's "dual economy" with respect to economic competitiveness and innovation. Section three discusses the major structural reforms (Japan Post, the Housing Loan Corporation and the Japan Highway Corporation) that were undertaken in Japan in the 21st c. Section four of the article provides final conclusions.

Markets for Australian beef throughout the 20th century have been moulded by world wars, economic depressions, droughts, transport technology, cattle breeding, trade barriers, global competition, livestock disease eradication, human health risks, food safety, Australian Government policy, consumerism and beef quality. Major ‘shocks’ to beef marketing include the development of successful shipments of chilled carcases to Britain in the 1930s, the widespread trade disruption caused by World War II, expansion (early 1950s) and then a reduction in beef exports to Britain (1956), the introduction and then proliferation of Bos indicus derived cattle in northern Australia (1960s), licensing and upgrading of Australian abattoirs to export to USA and the consequential brucellosis and tuberculosis eradication campaign leading to record export tonnages of Australian processing beef to USA (1960–70). In 1980, increased beef trade to Japan began, leading in the late 1980s to expansion of high-quality grain finished products into that market. By 1993, beef exports to Japan (280.5 kt) exceeded those to USA (274.4 kt), signalling the significant shift in beef exports to Asia. Commencing in about 1986, the USA recognised the value of beef exports to Asian markets pioneered by Australia. Australia’s share of the Japanese and South Korean markets has been under intense competition since that time. Another major influence on Australia’s beef market in the early 1990s was growth in live cattle exports to Asian markets in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Live exports accounted for 152000 heads in 1992 and 858000 heads in 1996. Improved management systems (e.g. fences) and consequent regulation of cattle supply even in the wet season, a by-product of the brucellosis and tuberculosis eradication campaign, were indirect drivers of the growth in live exports. Throughout the period 1940–2000, domestic consumption of beef and veal declined from 68 to 33.3 kg/head.year, reflecting competition from other foods, perceptions of health risks, price of beef, periodic food safety scares, vegetarianism, changes in lifestyle and eating habits and lack of consistency of eating quality of beef. Despite this decline, the domestic Australian beef market still consumes a significant component (37%) of total Australian beef production. In 1984–85, the reform of the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation set in train a major directional change (‘New Direction’) of the beef sector in response to beef market trends. Under Dick Austen’s leadership, the Australian Meat and Livestock Corporation changed the industry’s culture from being ‘production-driven’ to being ‘consumer-driven’. Market research began in Australia, Japan and Korea to establish consumer preferences and attitudes to price, beef appearance and eating quality. Definite consumer requirements were identified under headings of consistency and reliability. The AusMeat carcass descriptors were introduced and a decade later traits like tenderness, meat colour, fat colour, meat texture, taste, smell, and muscle size were addressed. These historical ‘shocks’ that shaped the Australian beef markets have all been accompanied by modification to production systems, breeding programs, herd structure, processing procedures, advertising and promotion, meat retailing and end-use. The increasing importance of the food service sector and the ‘Asian merge’ influence on beef cuts usage in restaurant meals and take-away products are the most recognisable changes in the Australian food landscape. The Cooperative Research Centre¿s research portfolio was built around the changing forces influencing beef markets in the early 1990s. Australia needed to better understand the genetic and non-genetic factors affecting beef quality. One example was the poor success rate of cattle being grain-fed for the Japanese premium markets. Another was the relative contribution of pre- and post-slaughter factors to ultimate eating quality of beef. The Meat Standards Australia scheme was launched in 1997 to address this problem in more detail. The Cooperative Research Centre contributed significantly to this initiative. In the year 2001, Australia, with only 2.5% of world cattle numbers retains the position of world number one beef trader. We trade to 110 countries worldwide. The Australian beef sector is worth A$6 billion annually. The diversity of Australian environments, cattle genotypes and production systems provides us with the ability to meet diverse specifications for beef products. A new set of market forces is now emerging. Strict accreditation rules apply to Australian producers seeking access to the lucrative European Union market. Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies like bovine spongiform encephalopathy and scrapie are a continuing food safety concern in Europe. This and the foot and mouth disease outbreak in Britain early in 2001 have potentially significant indirect effects on markets for Australian beef. And the sleeping giant, foot and mouth disease-free status of Latin American countries Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina continues to emerge as a major threat to Australian beef markets in Canada and Taiwan. As in the past, science and technology will play a significant role in Australia¿s response to these market forces.

Defence date: 8 October 1987
Examining board: Prof. Vincent Wright, Nuffield College ; Prof. Yves Morvan, University of Rennes ; Prof. Julien Savary, University of Toulouse ; Prof. Stephen Young, Strathclyde University
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017

According to an increasingly accepted view, the sovereignty of national economies has been eroded to the point where nation-states ‘have become little more than bit actors’ (Ohmae 1995: 12). With the development of globalized financial markets, the rising power of multinational corporations (MNCs), and the emergence of a new set of supranational institutions to govern economic processes on a continental or world scale, nation-states are said to have lost the ability to manage their own domestic economic affairs, having ceded control over exchange rates, investment, and even fiscal policy to extra-national forces (Strange 1997). Moreover, with the increasing leverage and reach of MNCs further contributing to the erosion of national economic sovereignty, the once distinctive character of particular national industrial ‘models’ is said to be under imminent threat. While it may still be possible to identify at least three clearly distinctive national models—an Anglo-American model, a Rhineland (German) model, and a Japanese model—the decline of national institutions, the intensification of competitive forces on a global scale, and the cross-penetration of national markets by MNCs are said to have propelled a process of convergence between these different national models (see Martin and Sunley 1997 for a review of these arguments). In most representations of this globalization dynamic, convergence is regarded as inexorable. One of the most important processes underpinning this dynamic is learning. At the global level, large corporate actors are allegedly learning from each other, so that the most successful corporate practices are emulated and diffused cross-nationally at an increasingly rapid pace. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, considerable attention was devoted to the diffusion of methods of production and workplace organization perfected by Japanese producers of cars and consumer electronics, in which American, Canadian, and European manufacturers were shown to be learning methods such as just-in-time, kaizen/continuous improvement, and other aspects of ‘lean production’ techniques from their Japanese competitors (Womack, Jones, and Roos 1990). With the resurgence of the United States’ economy in the second half of the 1990s, American practices have apparently become the object of global firms’ affections, with large corporations in Europe and Asia adopting the core characteristics of US-style ‘shareholder capitalism’: especially flexible labour market practices, ‘re-engineering’, and the empowerment of shareholders (The Economist 1996a; 1996b).

With research and technology (R&T) development activities for the next generation SuperSonic Transport (SST) being pursued globally over the past few years, the options to proposed airframe and engine concepts appears to be converging. The United States, the Europeans, and the Japanese are all engaged in developing the technologies needed for a future SST that is environmentally compatible and economically practical. Boeing and McDonnell Douglas are part of the team under an R&T contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to develop critical components and enabling materials that will allow industry to make a production decision by 2003. Europe’s three main aircraft manufacturer’s — i.e., Aerospatiale, British Aero-space, and Deutsche Aerospace — comprise the European Supersonic Research Program (ESRP). A primary Japanese effort called the Hypersonic Transport Propulsion System Research (HYPR) project consists of a consortium of four international engine manufacturers and the National Japanese Laboratory. The manufacturers are: Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., the Kawasaki Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., and General Electric Aircraft Engines Company, USA. A recent study by the Japan Aircraft Development Corporation (Reference 1) also addressed the technology requirements for the next generation SST. There are basically three major challenges that must be met before a new SST can become a reality. They are the technical, environmental, and economic challenges. The technical challenges of the propulsion system primarily reduce the development of new materials capable of sustaining higher temperatures and vibration (high and low frequency) over longer exposure times as well as capable of being produced at reasonable costs. Low emission combustors and low exhaust jet noise are the primary environmental challenges, which are a technical challenge in themselves. The economic challenge is to produce an aircraft and propulsion system that allows the manufacturers to recover development and manufacturing costs as well as realize a reasonable Return-On-Investment (ROI). In addition, Life Cycle Costs (LCC) must not be substantially above future subsonic airliners in order to justify premium fares the public would be willing to pay for the time savings of long-distance flights and still be profitable to the airlines.