Transferring innovations from abroad to Japan

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25780232
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Management
• Research Institution: Hitotsubashi University
• Principal Investigator: EDMAN Jesper 一橋大学, 大学院国際企業戦略研究科, 講師 (20615976)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): MAKAREVICH Alex ESADE, Department of People Management and Organisation, Assistant Professor
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: Innovation / Globalization / Adoption / Diffusion

Outline of Final Research Achievements

I examined how Japanese companies are introducing foreign innovations from abroad. My research points to three main findings. 1) Adoption is quickest among companies with either high or low status; companies that are in the middle are usually late-adopters; 2) innovations that are more similar to existing practices are more likely to be adopted, since they are easier to translate and explain to both customers and employees; 3) a main reason that innovations are not adopted is that they might trigger large-scale organizational changes that generate significant costs. Consequently, the companies that are LEAST affected by the new innovations are those most likely to adopt them, whereas those organizations where the new innovations might generate the biggest change appear least likely to adopt them.

Free Research Field

Management