Jiro Kokuryo

Sustaining life during the early stages of disaster relief with a frugal information system: learning from the great east Japan earthquake

Important lessons for responding to a largescale disaster can be gleaned from the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. The failure of the electrical power system and the resultant loss of information communication and processing capability severely constrained the recovery work of many municipalities. It was difficult for supporting organizations to collect and share information. A frugal information system designed around the four u-constructs is suggested as a solution for handling the very early stages of disaster relief, typically within the first 72 hours and even upon the realization of an impending disaster. This article focuses on basing communications on the most frequently available device, the cellular phone, as the foundation for a frugal IS for disaster relief. Familiar and available tools place minimal stress on an already strained communication system, and enable effective connection between those impacted by a disaster and those involved in disaster relief.

A proposal on RFID data analytics methods

This study proposes RFID data analytics methods using consumer purchase behavior data as well as sales data. Consumer purchase behavior data, how consumers select or not select items at stores, has not been available, but with the progress of the radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, it becomes feasible to use it in a commercial basis. The proposed data analytics methods are two: one is to infer items that are compared to each other while customers select items at stores, and the other is to infer good combination items that can be used to stimulate sales of each other. We evaluate our proposal using real consumer purchase behavior data and sales data captured in an RFID pilot experiment. We confirm that the methods successfully infer the items that are useful to the retailer.

Development of IT in Japan amid financial difficulties

The Japanese bubble economy in the 1980s, one boosted by capital gains income from inflated asset prices, burst in the early 1990s resulting in strong deflationary pressure. In the face of a sluggish economy, corporate investment has been sluggish. Amid such a weak economy, investment in information technology (IT) has remained relatively strong, particularly in the telecommunications sector. The growth of the IT industry came along with the changes in its structure. Adoption of open architecture, greater use of packaged software, and increased popularity of outsourcing are examples. The adoption of open architecture in IT was in part a reflection of the openness of the systems that employed the technology. The Japanese industry that relied on close relations along the supply chain tended to maintain proprietary IT architecture within groups. The increasing power of the demand side has been instrumental in opening up the once closed supply chain and the IT infrastructure.

Preparing for creative responses to “beyond assumed level” disasters: Lessons from the ict management in the 2011 great East Japan Earthquake crisis

A survey of the municipal government ICT divisions during and after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami crisis reveals the need for creative responses for “beyond assumed level” disasters. Complexity and diversity of the damage were simply too great for any plans to assume. Resident needs toward the municipal governments were also diverse and changed quickly as the time went by. The research also indicates that there would be ways to strengthen the capabilities to execute such spontaneous responses. Creative solutions executed during the 3.11 crisis were supported by the existence of open source software available on the net and skilled engineers that were capable of exploiting them. Frugal information system will be useful to improve preparedness for creative responses.

Fujisawa sustainable smart town: Panasonic’s challenge in building a sustainable society

Urban utility equipment and electronic goods manufacturers are experiencing profound challenges in this age of rapid technological change. Panasonic, Japan’s leading electronics company, has also recognized the limits of its traditional product manufacturing orientation and decided to enter IT-intensive town management in view of these challenges. It has advanced a new strategy for creating sustainable communities to encourage both stakeholders and local residents to get involved. Stressing sustainability, the strategy has adopted a long-term perspective (i.e., a 100-year timeframe). Significantly, it must provide values that foster community-based sustainability and adopt a business model that ensures the economic viability of both constructing the town and managing its ongoing services. As information systems play a big part in the provision of services in the new town, the strategy requires the linking of information with technology and social aspects, quite unlike traditional manufacturing, which is solely based on technology concerns. As part of its new strategy, Panasonic defined five prominent service areas (i.e., energy, security, mobility, wellness, and community). The company thought these areas would expand and generate new value and services throughout the strategy’s timeframe.

Data Backup Dilemma: Case Studies from the Great East Japan Earthquake

When the Great East Japan Earthquake struck in 2011, several municipalities lost their residential data including backup. Since none of them had ever considered the total loss of data, data backup policy had been paid little attention. In many cases, the backup tapes were simply stored inside the server room, just beside the server rack. Following the calamity, the Japanese national government tried to introduce a data backup system to municipalities using the cloud. The purpose was to secure the safekeeping of backup data. However, municipalities were reluctant to go along with this since overcoming the loss of network connectivity during an earthquake remained foremost in their minds. They prioritize accessibility to data, including that held on tapes, in the event of a future disaster. To overcome this conflict, this paper proposes a hybrid approach for a future data backup policy. Conceptually, a frugal backup system relying on minimal resources should kick in immediately following a disaster while the system as a whole strives to recover the level of robustness necessary for keeping backup data safe.

How do Organizational Processes Recover Following a Disaster? A Capital Resiliency Model for Disaster Preparedness

This paper explores how organizational processes are recreated following their destruction in unexpected disasters. It applies the notion of an organization as a capital conversion and capital creation system. It also focuses on systems resilience, the measure of a systems persistence and ability to absorb disturbances while reconstructing relationships between system entities. Based on the analysis of empirical evidence collected from the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster in 2011, we propose a resiliency model incorporating a broader interpretation of the notion of capital. The model consists of five dimensions of capital: economic, social, symbolic, human, and organizational. Once a given capital is destroyed together with its creative organizational processes, communities will attempt to regain resilience by compensating with other dimensions of capital. Analyses demonstrate the importance of recreating organizational capital that coordinates capital conversion and recreation processes to meet the vital need of the residents. Examining this process of capital conversion and creation enables us to extend the notion of resilience.

Innovative financing scheme by RFID

This study proposes a collateral registration method of asset based lending (ABL) and evaluates parameters of supply chain management (SCM) operation that affect performance of ABL. Radio frequency identification has been deployed recently and there increases the application areas using its track and trace capability. ABL is one of them, in which company borrows money from financial service company (FSC) by using movable asset, such as inventory, as collateral. We proposed a registration method that is compatible to the current RFID standard, analyzed the SCM parameters that affect the loan condition of ABL, and summarized how companies design the SCM operation to take advantage of the financing scheme.

Specification Patent Management for Web Application Platform Ecosystem

Diversified usage of web applications has encouraged disintegration of web platform into management of identification and applications. Users make use of various kinds of data linked to their identity with multiple applications on certain social web platforms such as Facebook or MySpace. There has emerged competition among web application platforms. Platformers can design relationship with developers by controlling patent of their own specification and adopt open technologies developed external organizations. Platformers choose a way to open according to feature of the specification and their position. Patent management of specification come to be a key success factor to build competitive web application platforms. Each way to attract external developers such as standardization, open source has not discussed and analyzed all together.

Value Creation on Networks and in Corporate Activities

Information technologies enable the creation of new value in terms of changes in communication and cost structures. This chapter illustrates two cases in which a variety of knowledge of consumers or companies is pooled to produce new value: (1) a community site that has an enormous influence on product marketing, and (2) open-source software developed as a custom-made application system for a specific company.