This study examines R&D and information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the innovation process, and how these two are integrated with each other for innovation by panel data analysis. The surveys were conducted in February 2012 and March 2017. The number of innovations is taken as an outcome variable, while explanatory variables related to R&D and ICTs were extracted from related questions by factor analysis. The fixed effect robust model with an instrumental variable is estimated, since the error term may contain heteroscedasticity. R&D autonomy and the cross-term of R&D autonomy and ICTs are significant, indicating that ICTs contribute to innovation via R&D autonomy.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify factors promoting innovation in the framework of R& D based on surveys conducted on firms in five ASEAN countries, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Design/methodology/approach: The analytical method divided sample firms into two categories, namely, “the R& D group” and “non-R& D group.” The analysis attempts to identify which of the internal capabilities, consisting of technology, human factors and organization factors, promote innovation. Ordered probit analysis is employed. Findings: Findings from the estimations indicate that the two groups pursue product innovation differently. The R& D group promotes innovation by cross-functional teams of production, engineering, and marketing and IT use, whereas the non-R& D group promote product innovation by HRD programs for workers, group awards for suggestions or QC, and ISO9000 series. Research limitations/implications: The number of samples related to the non-R& D group is too small to conduct statistical analysis. External linkages played an important role in the authors’ previous studies. The introduction of external linkages into the model may yield different results, though the analysis would become more complex. Practical implications: The results of this paper provide the solid basis of policy to promote innovation and upgrading SMEs in the region. Social implications: Many ASEAN SMEs successfully achieve innovation without owning specified in-house departments or sections to conduct R& D. Originality/value: The features of this paper lie in the original firm-level survey data and rigorous estimation method using ordered probit analysis, which are new to this literature.

To analyse the nature of R&D and HRD among Japanese SMEs, the Japan Team selected the following three firms from the manufacturing industry, depending upon size in terms of the number of employees, types of products, orientation toward innovation and so on. The three firms selected were Dynic, Kyokko Electrics (Kyokko for short) and Maeda Precision Manufacturing (Maeda for short). In the context of formal or informal R&D, Dynic and Kyokko own R&D centres, while Maeda does not, which is due to the size of firms. This study analyses their R&D and HRD organizational structures and implementations and identifies factors which determine the nature of their R&D and HRD. The factors promoting innovation extracted based on the in-depth interviews are (1) the size of firm, (2) types of product and production, (3) seeds of innovation, (4) attitude toward risk and (5) learning process. The common factor acting as the basis for the firms' R&D structure was identified as ISO9001 which three firms commonly introduced and applied. Their HRD are also different, which are due to (1) level of new employees and (2) the size of firm. The policy implications for further promotion of innovation are also discussed.

This study investigates the mediating role of human factors in absorbing externally available information into product innovations of firms in four Southeast Asian countries. This absorption process consists of two sub-processes, namely the acquisition process from which outside information is employed to the firm's innovative capacity and the transformation process in which innovative capacity creates innovation. This study attempts to identify human elements essential to indigenous innovative capacity building. As such elements may help the absorption process, this study focused on personnel with experience of working with multinational enterprises (MNEs) and indigenous employees of the firm. As for the transforming capability, organizational learning process, including quality control (QC) and cross-functional teams are examined. The analysis indicates that MNEs have the largest impact as external linkages and for the connectivity with external linkages such as MNEs and public organizations and universities, the best mediators are top management and factory managers who have working experience with MNEs, whereas indigenous employees such as local engineers, managers, and line leaders are the best mediators for connectivity with locals.

The innovation process in SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises) is complex and in comparison with large firms the causal relationships between promoting factors and innovation have yet not been sufficiently clarified. This chapter attempts to analyze the innovation process using Structural Equation Modeling, in particular focusing on the role of ICT. Seven hypotheses are demonstrated by two models. The results obtained are as follows: (i) top management participation and employee motivation in the innovation process enhance the effect of introducing ICT (ii) the effect of ICT use raises innovation capability, in particular the ability to connect with external linkages (iii) ICT use, innovation capability and external linkages enhance innovation activity and (iv) the effect of ICT use and innovation capability promote innovation directly.

A large number of firms use social media as new communication tools for obtaining information on consumer's needs and market for developing new goods and services. Authors' previous research found social media use promotes product innovation based on questionnaire data of Japanese firms. However, it was not clear whether social media effected directly on product innovation. This paper introduces a new variable constructed by achievement of product innovation and social media use and utilizes this as a dependent variable. The estimation methods conducted in the previous research are employed for probit analysis. This study finds all estimations have the same results. In addition, this paper also examines what kind of effect of social media is important for product innovation. The effects of social media such as obtaining trends and customer's needs, and opening the FAQ site are found to be useful for achieving product innovation.

In order to achieve successful innovation, firms have to elevate their capability for innovation. ICT becomes one of essential tools of business management. The aim of this papers to examine the causal relationship between ICT use and innovation capability. Based on survey data from four ASEAN economies of Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, this study examines what kind of ICT use such as SCM, CAD/CAM, SNS and so on, has been introduced by firms, and how it enhances internal innovation capability and contributes to achieve innovation. In so doing, to make the concept of internal innovation capability more tractable for empirical analysis, AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) was employed to construct an index of internal innovation capability. By using instrumental variable probit estimation (or two Stage Least Square: 2SLS), the following results are obtained: (1) ICT significantly influences to enhance internal innovation capability; and (2) internal innovation capability promotes innovation.

ICT (Information and Communication Technology) has now become one of the most important sources of innovation, and it contributes to share information on innovation within the firm as well as between firms. The former is referred to as ICT use inside the firm, while the latter as ICT use outside the firm. The objective of the chapter is to analyze how innovation is enhanced by two categories of ICT use based on a survey conducted with respect to 2,260 unlisted Japanese industrial companies in January 2010. This survey asked how ICT is used among respondents and the number of patent applications, which is used as a proxy of innovation. After defining the index of internal innovation capability, how ICT use promotes internal capability and innovation are analyzed using probit estimation. Moreover, the study focuses on open innovation, and these analyses are applied for firms practicing open innovation.

This paper focuses on factors which promote organizational innovation through ICT use by applying the index based on AHP. In so doing, two groups, one developed SMEs and the other underdeveloped, are compared in one model. Organizational innovations generated by the introduction of ICT are classified by the following four types: (i) the number of PCs owned, (ii) number of PCs connected to networks such as LAN, (iii) extent to which software that contributes to the efficient utilization of managerial resources has been implemented, and (iv) Internet use. The index of organizational innovation generated by above ICT introduction is calculated by the AHP (Analytical Hierarchical Process).

The issue of evaluation remains a difficult problem in online seminars just as it has been in traditional discussion classes. When it is educationally more meaningful to give qualitative feedback to participating students, it is also part of the university teachers' "unpleasant duties" to have to provide quantitative grades for administrative purposes. In conventional discussion classes, it is common practice for teachers in Japan, as in many other countries, to give out grades by assessing "class participation," but its criteria have usually been simply subjective. Though we have not reached a solution to this problem, we are in the process of setting up relatively objective criteria for evaluating the students' performance in our online seminars, based on such factors as "depth of insights " and "collaboration. " Another perspective for evaluation, which is the evaluation of educational effects of online seminars, will also be presented.

This paper attempts to extract empirically factors that promote the introduction and usage of IT by SMEs (Small-and medium-sized enterprises) through the method of mail surveys and in-depth interviews conducted in two of Japan's largest SME clusters, Higashi-Osaka and Ohta Ward, in the metropolitan area of Tokyo. We sent questionnaires to more than 6,000 SMEs in these two clusters, and received nearly 1,200 replies. Questions sent to SMEs were related to (i) company characteristics (amount of capital, number of employees, etc); (ii) managerial orientation, which classifies SMEs as the expansion, incentive-providing, adapting, or data-using category; (iii) business environment such as the degree of competition; (iv) purposes of IT use, such as raising profit and productivity; (v) expectations for IT use; and (vi) other factors such as IT investment in the most recent fiscal year and the company's understanding of importance of the IT in business management. Regarding management orientation, a detailed explanation is called for. The questionnaires contain ten items regarding managers' daily activities. Since there is some overlap between the ten questions, an attempt was made to isolate the variables through component analysis. In this manner, four variables, which account for 70.1% of the total responses, were isolated. The first of these includes questions to determine to what extent an SME is geared toward expansion. The second category, orientation to incentives, contains questions on management's performance vis-A-vis stakeholders, and on any incentives it gives employees by relinquishing rights and responsibilities to them. The third variable includes questions on the extent to which firms learn from their mistakes, and on whether top management considers employee suggestions. Since such courses of action are indicative of management's responsiveness, this factor is referred to as "orientation to adapting." The last variable, called "orientation to data use," contains questions on how firms make use of data for decision-making. We selected the followings indexes to represent the degree of IT use by SMEs: (i) the amount of software that contributes to efficient utilization of managerial resources; and (ii) Internet usage. Based on these data, we extracted the factors by making use of regression methods such as OLS, logit and probit estimations. Thus, the result of estimations can be compared. One of the most important factors we found in our research is " expectation from IT use," such as " restructuring of the whole business process," which is identified as a significant factor in all of our estimations. SMEs with intensive use of IT believe in its effect and actually invest lots. It follows from this that the most important way to promote IT use among SMEs is to encourage them to be forward-looking. Once they adopt such an outlook, SMEs can determine the exact ways in which they will introduce and use IT, according to their specific goals. By the probit analysis, the behaviour of COE or the top management was also found to be especially important. Since IT use is a function of a business's management and strategy, the decisions made by senior managers are crucial. Even if SMEs operated under optimal conditions, they would not be able to use new technologies to their advantage without correct decisions by their managers. Similar conclusions were reached by Tsuji and Choe (2004), who also tried to identify factors that encourage regional information policies by using the same framework. They concluded that the leadership of top local government is the most significant. Once we correctly grasp those factors, then we can make use of them to establish to suitable policy measures to enhance SMEs. Based on rigorous researches, proper policy measures should be established.

The issue of evaluation remains a difficult problem in online seminars. Though it is possible to give out grades by assessing "class participation" just as in traditional discussion classes, its criteria may be simply subjective.? Though we have not reached a solution to this problem, we are in the process of setting up relatively objective criteria for evaluating the students’ performance in our online seminars, based on such factors as “depth of insights” and “collaboration.” Another perspective for evaluation, which is the assessment of educational effects of online seminars, will also be presented.

ベンチャー企業は、ヒト・モノ・カネといった経営資源が不足するため成長が阻害されており、それを充足すれば成長するものと考えられていた。しかし、近年、資源が充実してもベンチャー必ずしも成長を遂げることができず、販売面や経営面でのソフト支援の必要性が指摘されている。 本発表では、こうしたソフト支援のほか、ベンチャーの成長には、地域に存在する企業・取引先や大学など、さまざまな機関の協力が必要であることを主張した。

新産業の創出策の一つとしてベンチャー支援が積極的に行なわれている。しかしながら、支援策が充実されるにもかかわらず、成長を遂げるベンチャーが次々と誕生することができない現状にある。こうした現状を打破するには、急成長を遂げているベンチャーの軌跡から成功の秘訣を学び、それを支援に生かすことが重要である。 本発表では、こうした点に基づきベンチャーを輩出するための社会的インフラ整備の必要性を指摘した。

中小企業におけるイノベーション創出に影響する要因分析の一環としてのNON－R&D活動とのの関連性分析を過去の調査データと文献研究に基づき検証を進めてきた。その結果を学会発表並びに研究論文”The Joint Impact of R&D and ICT on Innovation in Japanese Innovative SMEs by Panel Data Analysis”,International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management Vol. 19, No. 1 (2022) 2140009 (19 paes）として発表しているが、コロナの影響で定量データに基づく実証分析に必要なフィールド調査の実施ができていない状況である。中小企業3社へ個別インタビューによるコロナの影響(取引先との対面交流の減少と取引先でのコロナ発生にともなう受注減により業績が悪化しているのと同時に、取引先からの情報量の減少によりイノベーション創出にも影響が出ているとの回答を得た。また、国からの給付金により事業継続が可能となっていることも判明した）によるイノベーション創出への影響を中心とする定性データが得られた為、これらの内容も加味したフィールドサーベイ用の調査項目を作成し調査対象企業を選定しインターネットによる調査を実施する計画を進めている段階である。

In this study we clarified that Absorptive Capacity and Innovation Capability were deeply involved in the creation of new products and services in SMEs. Regarding the former, three elements in Absorptive Capacity, namely, the recognition of new value, the acquisition of new information and technology from the outside firms, the assimilation of the acquired information into a state where it can be used by fusing it with the in-house technology, are closely related the creation of new products and services. As for the latter, it is important to improve the in-house innovation capability by R & D in which employees can be actively involved, and by utilizing R & D activities and ICT intended to link technology and product development within the company.

Social media to use for corporate innovation strategy were studied. Based on the survey results on social media for business use and product development in Japanese advanced firms, we clarified that social media was effective to grasp customer needs, improve brand image, joint development with lead users, increase opportunities for acquiring new customers, reduce advertising expenses and improve sales. We also found that it helped consumers participate in devising and evaluating new product concept drafts, and person in charge of product development cooperated with consumers by using social media to develop new products according to customer needs.

This project has examined the following three issues from quantitative and qualitative researches to discuss the theory how to catch user innovation(UI)into open innovation of companies; (1) Industries that user innovation happens frequently, (2) Motivations of user innovation in each industry, (3) Diffusion of the innovation in the industry. Important findings of our research are these; (1) UI happens frequently in the manufacturer, agriculture and mining industries compared with other industries, (2) UI might happen in the industries; High degree of maker's oligopoly and globalization and new entrant users from other industries, (3)Many of these innovation are useful for other users in the same industry, (4)These innovations have not diffused in the industries.

We considered the overt and potential capacity to create innovation organizational IQ and it consisted of three factors below, Innovation Capability, Effect of ICT and External Linkage. The result of covariance structure analysis of innovation and organizational IQ means that it contributes innovative activities of firms to create innovation. So to create innovation effectively it is important not only to power up those three factors but also top management's participation to innovative activities and employee's motivation to management.

One of the main purposes of this research is to clarify the factors of the occurrence and the development of a local innovation which initiates the revitalization of regional industries. The other one is to examine the relationship between the innovation and ICT capability. As a result of the research, we demonstrated that it was important to form the network between the combined firms in the inside as well as the outside of the region to construct the local innovation system. In that case, we also found it necessary to improve the ICT capability in order that ICTs such as supply chain management, social media and others were able to be skillfully used.

In Japanese software industry, the industrial structure has been changed. The productivity of independent software firm is higher than firms which have sub-contract structure. Recently Cloud computing has effected on the software industry. In application software, especially medical field must be focused. We study the effect of e-Health on the medical expense, and we can have the result showing the possibility that the use of e-Health can decrease the medical expense.

This study aims to analyze factors creating regional discrepancies, which have been increasing in these days, and to propose policies for correcting discrepancies. This study identifies regional gaps in the areas such as medicine, education, employment, and innovation. One of key factors found to solve this problem is the application of Information and Communications Technology(ICT). This study shows how the application of ICT use reduces regional discrepancies.

The purpose of this research is to support innovation activities of SMEs effectively and to construct an innovation system. In so doing we investigated the situation of innovation activity and clarified the factors to promote innovation. We concluded that it is necessary to support variety type of SMEs on the basis of the statue of each firm and to encourage of top management and business leader, also improving ICT capability.