We analyze the productivity level for parent firms and their affiliates in foreign countries, using large-scale parent-affiliate-linked data for the Japanese manufacturing multinational firms. We first measure the labor productivity level converted to the internationally comparable unit using...

This paper examines whether first-time exporters achieve productivity improvements through learning-by-exporting effects. The results suggest that the start of exporting to North America/Europe has a strong positive effect on sales and employment growth, R&D activity, and productivity growth. On...

This paper examines whether and how the entry of foreign multinational firms affects the productivity growth of domestically owned firms, using Japanese firm-level data for the period 2000-2007. The data are taken from the comprehensive annual survey by the Japanese government, which covers...

This paper examines how firms' decision to start exporting is affected by the availability of information on export markets. Unlike existing studies which focus on information sharing among firms, we examine the information provided by firms' top lender banks (main banks). Specifically, using a...

Globalization of business leads to environmental uncertainty for corporate organizations. To establish competitive advantage, organizations need continuous introduction of new products and services to markets and quick implementation of new strategies. This paper shows what kinds of initiatives...

A decomposition of the gender gap in earned income among white-collar regular employees in Japan was conducted using the DiNardo-Fortin-Lemieux method based on propensity-score weighting. The results show that gender differences in three human-capital variables, namely, education, age, and the...

This paper has constructed a theoretical model to explain why the share of those who remain unmarried has increased in Japan. It is still common for women to leave the labor market due to marriage and thereby see an irreversible decrease in their income. Taking into consideration of the...

Employing massive contract- and firm-level data provided by the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Unit of the Japan Finance Corporation (JFC), one of the largest government lending institutions for SMEs, and linking the data with other firm-level data from a business credit information company,...

In treaty-based investment arbitration, tribunals quite often render their awards referring to the protection of the investor's legitimate expectations. A number of tribunals deal with this issue in the context of the application of the fair and equitable treatment clause and argue that the...

Japanese labor and employment law is based on the "command-and-control" model in which the government sets uniform minimum labor standards and enforces them through penalties and administrative inspections while leaving the determination of above-the-standard working conditions to employers,...