This lucid and informative book analyzes the problem of clusters in transition through studies of agglomerations at different stages of development in various East Asian countries. The contributors reconsider industrial cluster policy within a more dynamic and long-term framework, and explore...

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) generate externalities. A firm adopted an ICT will encourage its partner firms to adopt the compatible ICT to benefit fully from its own ICT investment. Thus, the firm and its partner firms who are collaborative and willing to adopt ICTs are like...

It is necessary to grasp and utilize consumer's needs for firms to improve existing products and developing new products. Especially, collaboration with consumers for product innovation is indispensable. On the other hand, social media has been spreading all over the world. Network communities...

The paper examines the relationship among Information and Communication Technology (ICT), ageing, and health expenditures in Japan. For this, primary data has been collected from an extensive mail survey that was carried in Nishiaizu Town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan from 2002 to 2010. 9 years...

This paper seeks to construct a new theory on SME innovation by reviewing and comprehending findings and knowledge obtained to date from a unified perspective. Conventional research on innovation in general has focused thematically on individual factors such as absorptive capability, R&D, and...

This study aims at evaluating the economic effect of a e-ambulance project, or emergency telemedicine in the rural areas in Kochi Prefecture in Japan. The focus is on ambulances equipped with ICT devices which transmit images of acute patients to remote hospitals. Kochi Prefecture started the...