Japanese Inter-firm Division of Labor and Japanese Firms' Competitiveness

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24243046
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Business administration
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: TAKEISHI Akira 京都大学, 経済学研究科(研究院), 教授 (60303054)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): SUGIYAMA Yasuo 京都大学, 経営学研究科, 教授 (70323467) ; WAKABAYASHI Naoki 京都大学, 経営学研究科, 教授 (80242155) ; KIKUTANI Tatsuya 京都大学, 経済学研究科, 准教授 (80183789) ; HARA Takuji 神戸大学, 経営学研究科, 教授 (60252756) ; FUJIWARA Masatoshi 一橋大学, 商学研究科, 准教授 (20411019) ; NAKAGAWA Koichi 大阪大学, 経済学研究科, 准教授 (40510409) ; SUZUKI Nobutaka 長岡技術科学大学, 工学研究科, 准教授 (70572832) ; KOSAKA Genjiro 上智大学, 経済学部, 准教授 (90582297)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 経営学 / 企業間分業 / 競争力

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research aims at investigating the inter-firm division of labor of Japanese firms and examining its implications for competitiveness. The research consists of multiple empirical studies that share the objectives and deal with a variety of Japanese firms and industries, such as the automobile, electronics, information and communication, pharmaceutical and bio-technology, and machine tool industries, drawing on a variety of data and methods. Overall, the research suggests that competitive inter-firm devision of labor would involve, on one hand, "closeness" in terms of human, financial, geographical or resource relations, and, on the other hand, "openness" to explore various relations widely. This implies that efforts and creative solution to deal with these two requirements, which are seemingly contradictory to each other, would be critical for competitive management of the inter-firm devision of labor.

Free Research Field

社会科学、経営学、企業間関係、競争戦略、技術経営