Panos Mourdoukoutas

Created in Japan : from imitators to world-class innovators

Contents: The Managerial Imperitive; The Sociocultural Challenges; The Creativity Paradox; The Technological Race; Conclusion. In this warning to U.S. business and policymakers, Tatsuno debunks the myth of the Japanese inability to innovate. Appendixes.

Energy saving does not yield CO2 emissions reductions: the case of waste fuel use in a steel mill

Abstract Carbon dioxide is a major source of the green house effect and, therefore, fuel saving techniques are expected to reduce emissions. Yet, in some cases, energy saving techniques may result in higher CO 2 emissions. For instance, when natural gas is mixed with waste blast furnace gas, energy savings are associated with higher CO 2 emissions. To confirm this proposition we have constructed a model of a furnace by using energy-object network that consists of modules of convective heat exchangers, combustion and stream mixing.

Effective integration of management control systems for competing in global industries

Extending Simon’s (1990) work, this paper proposes an effective management control system that allows companies to integrate different management control systems in order to improve operational effectiveness, employee creativity, and company competitiveness. Reviews conventional and modern competitive strategies and discusses both positive and negative effects of management control systems. Argues that to be effective, diagnostic management systems must be supplemented by boundary control systems, interactive control systems, and belief systems. Effective integration of the four different management control systems, it is argued, is dependent on companies applying them in a way that maximises operational effectiveness without limiting employee creativity. The importance of starting the design of a management control system with the specification of a system of beliefs which defines the company’s values and direction is highlighted.

Bridging the start‐up equity financing gap: three policy models

This article takes a close look at the ways US, Israeli, and Irish policy makers have addressed the start‐up equity‐financing gap. US policy makers have been indirect, providing funds and creating the regime conducive to the growth of the private venture capital industry. Israeli policy makers have been less indirect, taking equity positions in start‐ups, and in venture capital funds in partnership with the private sector. Irish policy makers have been direct, setting up and managing start‐up venture capital funds.

Do Japanese companies have a competitive strategy

Responding to Michael Porter’s claim that “Japanese companies rarely have a strategy”, this paper argues that the competitive advantage of Japanese enterprises is not to be found in traditional practices. Rather, it is due to the way these practices are upgraded and reinforced by ideological factors such as the “community of fate”, as well as the formation of governance structures that cultivate the development of contextual knowledge that leads to the efficient and effective production of complex products.

Job Rotation and Public Policy: Theory with Applications to Japan and the USA

Argues that the high job mobility observed most prominently among workers in Japanese firms is consistent with the behaviour of risk‐averse individuals when neither private nor public income insurance is widely available to displaced workers. Laissez faire is suboptimal and involves higher job mobility than is socially optimal. Public provision of income insurance yields a Pareto improvement and reduces job rotation. Government job training schemes may push rotation levels even higher than the levels under laissez faire and could, therefore, be counterproductive.

IT and competitive advantage: the case of Japanese manufacturing companies

An empirical investigation of the relationship between IT and competitiveness of Japanese manufacturing companies, this paper finds an indirect correlation between the two variables. IT improves competitiveness through labor empowerment and strategic alliances rather than directly. The paper further argues that sustainability of IT‐based competitive advantages depends on the nature of IT systems. Competitive advantages based on stand‐alone IT systems that can be implemented with little internal and external cooperation are not sustainable, while competitive advantages based on cooperative IT systems that can be implemented with substantial internal and external cooperation are sustainable.

Bundling in a semi‐global economy

Crosscurrents between globalization and localization have created two world industry segments, an open highly competitive global industry, and a closed highly localized industry. Searching for competitive advantage in this new market environment, global manufacturers are becoming more like local service providers by executing a dual strategy: a global cost leadership strategy and a local product differentiation strategy. To achieve global cost leadership, manufacturers cooperate with their competitors to reach economies of scale and reduce costs. To achieve local product differentiation, manufacturers compete with their global partners by cooperating with local service providers to differentiate their offerings. This trend is analyzed to suggest two interdependent mechanisms for building successful bundling strategies. The competitiveness of a bundle that brings together global products and local services depends upon the degree of bundle localization. Sustainable bundling strategies should be treated as bundles of international business relationships.

Global equity market interdependence: Tokyo versus Wall Street

Enquires into the link between the Tokyo and New York equity markets. Finds that the link between the two markets strengthens at some times and weakens at others. Staggering business cycles and the breaking of global co‐operation are two plausible explanations of the weakening of the links between the two markets.

Measuring performance in non-profit organisations: the case of Greek public hospitals

This paper examines how efficiently 26 public general hospitals of the Greek National Health System (ESY) manage their resources, in 2009, and looks into how variables, such as hospital size, location, teaching mission, bed occupancy rate and average length of stay, are interrelated with efficiency scores. Data examination takes place through data envelopment analysis and Tobit regression analysis. The selected variables used to illustrate production are: number of beds and personnel (headcount) as inputs and as outputs number of patient admissions, number of patient days and number of outpatient visits. The DEA model is input and output oriented, allowing for constant return to scale, and units are ranked with a benchmarking approach. The results show that 34.6% of Greek hospitals are efficient, with a mean efficiency score of 88.9%, and confirm that hospital’s bed occupancy rate, average length of stay and teaching mission are significant explanatory variables of technical efficiency.