Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the own brand strategies undertaken by Japanese apparel manufacturers, and illuminate the characteristics of those apparel manufacturers who adopt the SPA business model. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey was sent to 4,417 apparel manufacturers in Japan of which a total of 1,211 were deemed usable (response rate of 27.47 percent). Logit regression analysis was then employed to identify factors affecting the own brand strategies adopted by Japanese apparel manufacturers. Findings: The main findings are as follows: apparel manufacturers having access to external designers, and who collect information relating to consumer needs for production planning tend to have their own brands apparel manufacturers located in Tokyo have added benefits associated with launching their own brands than those located in other cities the size of the company behind the brand development is insignificant and therefore, SME apparel manufacturers have equal opportunities in developing their own brands, which could flourish in the future. Research limitations/implications: The present study is limited in that it focuses solely on exogenous factors. Strategic decision-making processes, typical of the distribution structures of apparel industries, influence the apparel relationship between retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers. Thus, the distribution structure and the relationships require further investigation studies. Originality/value: Because of a lack of published data, no empirical studies investigating the effectiveness of own brand strategies developed by Japanese apparel manufacturers currently exist. The present study aims to address this by conducting questionnaire surveys with all Japanese apparel manufacturers and then using logit regression analysis, identify the primary factors influencing own brand strategy. This study clarifies the situation regarding the survival of SMEs in the apparel market, considering only those apparel manufacturers who intend to launch their own brands.

In many parts of the world, water is supplied by very small, local undertakings. In recent years, there has been a move to consolidation of these utilities in a number of countries. This paper looks at the economic effects of consolidation of Japanese water utilities in the period 1999-2006 using translog cost functions with a hedonic output specification. The results clarify what factors have been most affected in terms of the cost structure of the water utilities after consolidation. Overall, the finding is that consolidation has had some beneficial impact on cost effectiveness, but that the result is surprisingly limited. This appears to be because cost savings from an improvement in the use of scarce water resources have been offset by extra expenditure on supplying water to areas with lower population density.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight two important strategies (private label strategy and specialty store strategy) of the Japanese wholesale apparel market and then to clarify the characteristics of those apparel wholesalers who own or intend to establish specialty private label stores. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey was carried out on 3,008 apparel wholesalers in Japan and probit regression analyses were applied to identify what types of apparel wholesalers already own or whether they intend to establish specialty private label stores. Findings: The main findings are as follows: large-scale apparel wholesalers tend to own specialty private label stores but these wholesalers experience a worse financial outcome apparel wholesalers with brand strength tend to possess their own specialty stores and apparel wholesalers, who do not currently own specialty stores, plan to strengthen their brands in order to take advantage of apparel distribution channels. Originality/value: Because of a lack of published data, no empirical studies have investigated the effectiveness of private label or specialty store strategies developed by Japanese apparel wholesalers. The present study has sought to address this problem by conducting questionnaire surveys with all Japanese apparel wholesalers and has, therefore, been able to clarify the situation regarding survival in the apparel market by considering those apparel wholesalers that already own or intend to establish specialty private label stores. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to clarify what factors affect the recent trend of having self-planning functions within Japanese apparel wholesalers. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey was conducted involving Japanese apparel wholesalers and applied the probit and multinomial Logit regression analyses. Findings: The main findings are as follows: large-scale wholesalers who are located in urban areas tend to have their own planning functions, whereas small-scale wholesalers who are located in rural areas tend not to have self-planning functions and handle goods planned by other suppliers wholesalers who handle a wide range of apparel and conduct business with retailers located in the same area tend not to have their own planning functions the apparel wholesalers who have business dealings with many suppliers have the ability to promote themselves to the retailers and the apparel wholesalers who have self-planning functions tend to obtain goods from within Japan and other countries and sell goods throughout Japan. Practical implications: Small-scale and rural apparel wholesalers face difficult circumstances due to their size, location and lack of self-promotion ability. In contrast, large-scale and urban wholesalers are able to ensure greater independence due to their size and location. Originality/value: This paper focuses on the important role of wholesalers in the Japanese apparel industry and, by using the empirical approach, can clarify factors affecting the recent trend of having self-planning functions within Japanese apparel wholesalers. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

This paper focuses particularly on vertical integration between the water intake-purification and water distribution stages. In order to investigate the economies of vertical integration, I estimated the translog cost function in the Japanese water supply industry and calculated the economies of vertical integration between the water intake-purification and water distribution stages, directly following the separability assumptions. Furthermore, the purchased water ratio was also taken into account when calculating the economies of vertical integration. The results show that economies of vertical integration exist between the water intake-purification and water distribution stages, particularly in the case of lower purchased water ratios. © 2007 Springer-Verlag.

There are four types of water supply systems in Japan such as large water supply systems, small water supply systems, bulk water supply systems and small private water supply systems. While water supply systems have at least three activities such as water intake, water purification and water delivery, the only bulk water supply systems don't have water delivery but have water intake and water purification. Bulk water supply systems are owned by prefecture or water supply authority which is established by some local governments, so bulk water supply systems therefore are thought of as they aim to increase productivity of water intake and water purification activities through widespread coordination. The purpose of this study is to analyze the cost structures of bulk water supply systems. The process of this analysis is as follows : (1) estimate the translog cost function and adopt hedonic output specification which contains some product quality variables, (2) include network variable in the cost model and identify economy of density and economy of scale. We obtain the results that some product quality variables have positive impacts to the cost structure and economy of density does exist (1.685) whereas economy of scale shows a constant return to scale (1.020) at the sample mean point. © 2006, JAPAN SECTION OF THE REGIONAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL. All rights reserved.

Within this analysis we determine the optimal size (that is, with the minimum average cost) of a water supply enterprise and reconsider the matter of scale economies, using sample data from Japanese water supply organizations. After surveying evidence from previous studies of scale economies in the water supply industry, we estimate cost functions with three different cost models: the log-linear, translog and translog with a hedonic function. We obtain the result that economies of network density do exist, but that there are slight diseconomies of scale at the sample mean point. The optimal size of a water supply organization would be one supplying a population of approximately 766, 000 people. © RSAI 2001.

本研究の目的は、日本の上下水道事業における最適産業構造のあり方を実証的に分析することである。具体的には、政府によって推進されている広域化・共同化、官民連携の政策を踏まえつつ、果たしてどのような産業構造が上下水道事業にとって望ましいのか、その歴史的・地理的諸条件を適切にコントロールした上で、最適な産業構造について計量経済学的手法を用いて実証的に明らかにする。本研究の成果は日本のみならず世界の上下水道政策にとって非常に有用な情報となることが期待される。 プロジェクト初年度の令和3年度においては、実証分析に必要となるデータのアップデートおよび上下水道事業の実態を知るための情報収集、そしてすでに構築しているデータベースを用いた初期分析を行った。特に海外と比較しても非常に複雑な産業構造をもつ下水道事業に関して、歴史的発展過程、産業構造、法制度、財政・料金のシステムなどについて英語論文として取りまとめを行った。その成果（タイトル：The Japanese sewerage industry: institutional aspects and the governance systems）は令和4年度中にSpringer社の書籍に掲載される予定となっている。 また、これと並行して下水道事業における包括的民間委託の経済分析、および広域的統合の分析を同時に進めており、その研究成果は令和4年度中に取りまとめ、海外の学術誌に投稿すべく準備を進めているところである。 研究代表者の浦上は、日本下水道協会の経営アドバイザー会議の委員を務めておりその会合において国土交通省の担当者と意見交換を行った。また、厚生労働省水道課がとりまとめたベンチマーキングに関する報告書のアドバイザーを務め、同担当者との意見交換を行った。これらから得られた情報は実証分析にフィードバックされさらなる研究の精緻化を行ったところである。

令和3年度は令和2年度に執筆した英語論文を海外学術誌International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailingに投稿し、アクセプトされ掲載が決定した。さらに次の研究に着手するため、過年度に構築したデータセットに追加的な情報を収集することを目的に、矢野経済研究所のアパレル産業白書、および繊維白書の2冊購入した。さらに、研究協力者の武学穎博士を中心に日本のアパレル産業構造の歴史的変遷と、日本政府の繊維産業に対する政策の変遷と将来の方向性を英語論文として取りまとめ、令和4年度中にSpringer社より出版される書籍に掲載できるよう準備を進めているところである。

The purpose of this study is to empirically analyze the effects of wide-area consolidation of local public enterprises promoted by the Japanese government by using the econometric methods. Japanese local public enterprises are currently facing various changes in social and economic environments and business environments. The biggest changes are population decline, aging facilities, and frequent natural disasters. The population decline not only reduces income, but also reduces the size of the organization. On the other hand, aging facilities and natural disasters increase future investment. The Japanese government has developed a policy that encourages small enterprises to merge with or conduct collaboration with neighboring companies. In this study, we conducted an empirical analysis in view of various institutional problems related to wide-area consolidation. As a result, it became clear that a certain effect can be expected for the wide-area consolidation.

The purpose of this project was to do empirical study on cost management of regulated industry in population decreasing japanese society. To analyze this, we conducted field survey in the United Kingdom, Spain and Australia as well as conducted semi-structured interview with academiciaaans in these countries. In addition, we also invited researchers from the United States and Indonesia and discussed with them. Based on these survey results, we conducted empirical analysis on the impact of municipal mergers in the technical efficiency by using database of Japanese water industry. As a result of the estimation, the effect of the merger was revealed. And we conducted an empirical analysis on the economy of the scope in Japanese nonlife insurance industry.The obtained results showed that the economy of scope exists in the case of labor-saving technological progress and property cost utilization technological progress especially.

In order to clarify how Japanese "Local-Based Firms" can enhance the possibility to develop their foreign markets, we have executed the series of the comparison case analysis and the statistical analysis based on our questionnaire survey. We define “Local - Based Firms” as the firms that have their head quarter in rural area of Japan and carry out their business in taking advantage of the resources accumulated in the area. Mainly from the results of the comparison case analysis, we found that, in addition to the high degree of Market Orientation, Local-Based Firms need the capability for forming and maintaining the inter-firm networks that can be used to utilize other organizations’ resources when they develop the foreign market.

The purpose of this project was to compare industrial characteristics of water industry in Japan and European countries. To analyze this, I conducted field survey in the UK, Germany, Spain and Australia as well as conducted semi-structured interview with academicians in these countries. Based on these survey results, I conducted empirical analysis with collaborators in these countries by using rich database of Japanese water industry. The obtained results were as follows: (1) Positive merger effects existed when we adopted a new methodology which we developed in this project. (2) The merger effect was higher in the case of consolidation among relatively small water utilities than that of consolidation between large and small water utilities.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the characteristics of strategies of apparel companies in Japan and South Korea and the differences between them from the perspective of industrial accumulation by using questionnaire surveys. According to the survey for Japanese apparel companies, outsourcing a part of the manufacturing process to domestic companies or in-accumulation companies contributes to add high value to their products. A comparison of survey results for Japanese and South Korean apparel companies provides suggestive evidences that Japanese apparel companies tend to recognizethe strength of manufacturing flexibly depending on features of products, while South Korean companies recognize the strength of manufacturing at low costs and quickly. Furthermore this comparison suggests that these strengths would realize through utilizing industrial accumulations.

Apparel products imported from China have invaded the markets of developed countries in East Asia, which are South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. There are different strategic characteristics between Taiwan and Japan and South Korea under their different circumstances. Japanese small to medium sized apparel manufacturers are required to develop differentiated and competitive products and cultivate a variety of sales-channels in global markets.

This study applies econometric methods to evaluate the effects of structural separation (e.g.vertical separation and horizontal separation), and of relevant regulations in public utility industries, in particular the railway, water supply, postal and road service industries. Based on a series of analyses on structural separation's effects, we will determine what kind of structural separation would most reduce cost and/or what kind of regulatory policy would be most effective. The main results of this study are as follows.

平成18年度は平成17年度において収集されたデータをもとに,わが国の水道事業における上流部門(取水・浄水部門)と下流部門(配水部門)の垂直統合の経済性について実証分析を行った.この研究は,地方公営企業として地方自治体の直営方式によって運営されている水道事業において,広域的統合,なかでも用水供給部門と末端給水部門(特に自己水源を持たず取水の大部分を用水供給に依存し,配水事業に特化したような事業者)の垂直的統合が経済効率性を発揮しうるのかを検証したものである.分析の結果,取水・浄水部門と配水部門の垂直統合の経済性は存在することが確認され,かつそれは受水依存度が高い事業者ほど経済性が大きく発揮されることが期待されることが明らかにされた.ただし,採用された分析モデルの制約から,用水供給事業と末端給水事業のうち配水のみを行う事業者を統合した場合の経済性については検証できておらず,この点については今後の課題として残されている. 以上の研究成果は"Economies of vertical integration in the Japanese water supply industry"というタイトルで英文の論文としてとりまとめられ,平成18年8月30日から9月3日にかけてギリシャ・ボロスのテッサリー大学(University of Thessaly)で開催された第46回ヨーロッパ地域学会(46th Congress of the European Regional Science Association)で報告を行った後に,現在Review of Regional Researchに投稿中である.

Media report

Media report

Media report

Media report

Media report

Media report

Media report

Media report

pp.1-2. Paper

Media report

Media report

Media report

Media report

Media report

Media report

Media report

Media report

Media report

Live News イット! Media report

経済教室 Paper

Media report

insights Paper

Media report

ニュースウォッチ9 Media report

報道ランナー Media report

Media report

ニッポンの宿題 Paper