Japan′s consumers are said to be the most meticulous and demanding consumers in the world – expecting only the best in quality and service from the merchant. However true this may be, how protected are these consumers by their own government? In an irony of place and time, the world′s...

Information Overload is a subject of immense debate among consumer marketeers; can too much information overload a consumer and cause adverse judgmental decision making? What defense mechanisms do consumers have to control against the flow of information? In a similar vein exists a lesser known...

Focusses on a seldom‐studied barrier to the adoption of innovation, amely, the installed base of the technology or the product being supplanted. Examines three dimensions of this “installed base effect”, namely, supply, demand, and externalities. Describes the magnitude of these barriers...

Although arguments – both pro and con – can be constructed regarding trade shows, evidence suggests that enhancements to these events may be necessary. Reports an exploratory study, in which exhibitors at an industrial regional trade show were queried concerning potential improvements to...

Examines the traditional adversarial relationship between original equipment manufacturers and their larger corporate customers and compares it with the new partnership arrangement which is now overtaking much of manufacturing industry. Describes the advantages and disadvantages of these...

Examines the cultural and structural changes in both California and Massachusetts over the last 40 years to explain those factors which caused these innovative hot spots to glow brightly and then cool. Examines innovative hot spots and their similarities and differences from the rest of the...

With the state in Massachusetts in debt, rising taxes, plummeting housing prices, rising unemployment and a recession, complete with bank failures, company closings and bankruptcies, the Miracle, on which its former Governor Dukakis hoped to enter the White House, has become more of a...

Within the last two decades, the Japanese economic machine has developed into the leading economy in the world on a per capita income basis and second only to the USA in GNP. Contends that Japan has virtually conquered the US consumer electronics, semiconductor, and machine tool markets and,...

Much current Japanese popular discussion centres around the sudden death, at an early age, of Japan′s hard‐working white‐collar workers: karoshi – death from overwork – or Salaryman′s Sudden Death Syndrome. Officially it does not exist as the Government and big business are hesitant...