This article uses knowledge management theory and the gravity model to analyse the determinants of inpatriation' for knowledge-transfer within multinational corporations (MNCs) and the differences in their effects based on the region of the subsidiary's host country. The empirical analysis uses data collected through a survey of the overseas subsidiaries of Japanese MNCs and finds that factors related to both the countries and the individual MNCs affect inpatriation, with the former factors having a stronger influence than the latter. With regard to the country factors, a smaller geographic distance and a larger cultural distance between the home and host countries and a lower GDP per capita in the subsidiary's host country increase inpatriation. Regarding the individual MNC factors, a larger subsidiary R&D budget, a larger parent firm and the execution of collaborative R&D projects between a subsidiary and its parent firm increase inpatriation. Additionally, this study finds that in Asia, geographic closeness and low GDP per capita facilitate inpatriation, whereas a relatively small R&D budget and rare collaborative R&D projects with Japan decrease inpatriation. More subsidiaries in Asia send inpatriates to Japan than do subsidiaries in other regions because these positive factors are much stronger than these negative factors.

Researchers have revealed the importance of combining knowledge absorbed externally with internal knowledge in organizations to stimulate innovation. Given the recent advances in and the complexity of science and technology and the specialization of business processes, a person cannot single-handedly perform all key processes. Thus, successful innovation depends on whether knowledge absorbed from outside is shared with colleagues. Traditionally, organizational gatekeepers were thought to perform a two-step process consisting of external knowledge absorption (the first step) and internal transmission of this knowledge to colleagues (the second step). However, recent case studies and network analyses on Western firms have found that these two steps are divided, pursued by different individuals, and occasionally disconnected. In this study, I quantitatively examined the factors that promote each step and those that connect the two steps, using micro data from R&D professionals in three Japanese multinational corporations. My analysis revealed that the factors that promote external knowledge absorption and those that encourage its internal transmission differ by firm and knowledge type. My analysis also revealed the conditions under which these two steps are linked, in terms of job characteristics, incentives, and management practices. Absorbed knowledge from outside is likely to be transmitted internally at jobs requiring creativity and new ideas. However, jobs with tight deadlines do not allow time for knowledge transmission. R&D professionals' expectation that knowledge sharing will be conducive to innovation and efficient work is an incentive for internal knowledge transmission. Management methods such as direct evaluations of knowledge sharing with colleagues and evaluations of personal contributions to team performance were found to be effective. Individuals' abilities also affect internal knowledge transmission. The ability to transmit knowledge differs from the ability to absorb it, and people do not always have both abilities, which impedes the linkage of knowledge transfer. Trainings to acquire transmission skills might repair the disconnection caused by the lack of transmission skills.

The emigration of scientists facilitates the formation of international networks. However, are ties in such networks maintained after the scientists return to their respective home countries? Using data from the Web of Science, this paper analyzes whether Japanese migrant scientists returning from the US maintain the collaborative research network ties that they formed during their stay in the US and, if so, what features of these ties contribute to maintaining these relationships. The geographical distance between the US and Japan can impede the transfer of knowledge that is transmitted most effectively through face-to-face interactions. However, social proximity may compensate for geographical distance. Accordingly, the ties that Japanese scientists have formed with other Japanese scientists living in the US are more likely to be maintained than the ties that they have formed with scientists of different ethnicities. Social proximity was also measured by past experiences in collaborative research. The ties to scientists with whom Japanese scientists collaborated more frequently or co-produced papers with higher citation counts are more likely to be maintained after the scientists return to Japan. When collaborative research of American and Japanese scientists is worthwhile, they obtain mutual benefits through a 'give and take' in which they compensate for one partner's lack of knowledge by the other partner's knowledge. In a research field with which the developmental gap between the US and Japan is great, ties are less likely to be maintained.

This paper first analyzes the effects of migration on the research performance of eight Japanese scientists who moved to the USA. Four of those have returned to Japan (examples of brain circulation) and the others are examples of brain drain. In both cases, the research conducted in the USA has a higher impact than research conducted in Japan when the impact was measured by the number of citations. This paper also examines the effects of the international co-authorship on citation impact. In the previous research, the effects were tested by macro data. This paper uses micro data, which enables us to control the influences of differences in scientists' capabilities. As a result, in the cases of the brain circulation, the international collaboration beyond borders increases the impact. On the other hand, all the cases of the brain drain show a negative impact on citation regarding collaborative research with Japanese scientists.

Many developed countries, welcome foreign talent, and Japan is no exception. The Japanese government has developed programmes for expanding the acceptance of foreign labour in specialized and technical fields, in order to compete with foreign nations in the global economy and accommodate the highly specialized domestic industrial structure. This paper focuses on scientists and engineers (S&E) as a component of the highly skilled labour force, and examines their incentives for migrating to Japan, which is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. According to a survey conducted in 2004, the majority of S&E working in Japan migrated from Asian nations, and many obtained their doctoral degrees in Japan and continued to stay in the country to work. Key incentives for migration are Japan's high level of science and technology, opportunities to acquire cutting-edge knowledge, and prospects for improving performance in an environment with large budgets, superior equipment and facilities, and good quality human resources. In particular, the technological environment is influential for S&E from countries with a significant technological gap when compared with Japan. However, this does not mean that S&E are indifferent to monetary rewards. The salary gap, which is considered to be a major factor in international mobility in to traditional economic theory, has also proven to be a significant incentive, particularly for S&E from countries where the gap in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita compared with Japan is large. In addition, cultural and social aspects of Japan attract mainly young S&E. The attractiveness of Japanese culture, opportunities to learn the Japanese language, and chances to build a network of personal contacts are important incentives for migration. This study presents some policy implications for countries competing over capable S&E.

After divided the Iwatsubo research team of 1996 into Tarumi g and Funaoka research teams, we, Funaoka team, studied statistical data linkage, and created new statistics data.(1) Collection of business names under the same business establishment in Commercial Survey and made new information and investigate how establishment development of business was related with result of business activity. We analyzed the data of commercial business establishment (no less than 50 stores for retail business). We expand our analysis to commercial business (no less than capital 20 million yen).It becomes clear that the expansions of stores reduce profits, the firm age is related to profitability, area development does not necessarily increase profits, business expansions of multiple dimensions reduces profits.(2) Data linkage concerning households are made for Family Income and Expenditure Survey and Saving Survey as small scale experiments to tackle with identifying problems of households and search for useful linkage keys.We intend to statistically link between Employment Status Survey and National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure and analyze job mobility. We analyzed employment status and job mobility using Employment Status Survey. We emphasize importance of labor supply factors from household characteristics as opposed to the usual approach of labor demand.Linkage of this data set with National Survey of Household Income and Expenditure remains as a future study during our terms of research

Study of wage policies daring WWII and early period of reconstruction : analysis of the archives of the late Yoshio Kaneo.This project aimed at classifying and studying the archives collected by the late Yoshiko Kaneko his active days (1939-1985) he was a leading expert in the field of wage policies and as such exerted a ccnsiderable influence on the drafting of the labour Standard law (1947) and wage policies(1939-1980s) . In view of the scarcity of documents pertaining to this period, the archives of Y, Kaneko certain first-rate historical documents. The effort to preserve and ditalize the essaitial part of the archives began in 2000 and continusd through 2001. We could this secure most of the documents covering the 1939-1952 pariod (altogether 20 CD-Rom or more then 38,000 photos).In parallel with the above activities and in order to tate stock of present research for this period, we could hold a series of lectures by well-known researchers on lebour issues during WWII M. Sakurabayashi, professor emeritus, Sophia University, on Sampo movement, Yutaka. Nishinarita professor, Hitotsubashi University, Sampo movement in a historical perspective, Akira. Watanabe, professor, Tukuba University, on the elaboration of the labour Standard Law of 1947, Shinji Sugayama, professor, Tohoku Gakuin University, Fomation of the labour market after WWII , Hideaki Miyajima, professor, Waseda University, Economic control under WWII Mitsuru Yamashita, assistant, Waseda University, fomation of technicians bafore WWII, Nakoto Ishida, professor, Waseda University, Izutaro Suehiro before and during WWII.As a result of these two years of activities, we could classify and preserve the major part of the huge archives of Mr. Kaneko, R. Magota, H. Suzuki, and H. Kimura already wrote articles on the basis of the Kaneko collection. As future activities, we would like to fealitate the utilization of these documents by refining the classificaticn system and enabling researchers to accede documents through retrieval by key wards, should the funds be provided

With the development of knowledge-driven economies in advanced countries, scientists and engineers (S＆E) are of growing importance. Therefore, these countries have implemented policies to aggressively attract capable foreign S＆E. The key incentives for international migration of S＆E are high levels of science and technology, opportunities for cutting-edge knowledge acquisition, and prospects for attaining better levels of performance in environments with sizeable budgets, superior equipment and facilities and high quality human resources. Japan and the USA, which satisfy these conditions, have attracted foreign S＆E. The USA attracts S＆E from all over the world ;, Japan, in contrast, is a local hub in Asia. Although there are not large gaps in budgets, equipment and facilities between the USA and Japan, structural problems in Japanese workplaces have made Japan less attractive as a destination for migrants. The structural problems include : the seniority-based human resource management, the hierarchical structure of decision-making, an organizational culture that is unsuitable for free discussion and too many tasks assigned to individual S＆E. The fact that the Japanese language is much less commonly used than English in international communication is an additional obstacle. Major reasons for employing foreign S＆E are : i) to secure capable S＆E by selecting talent from a large, international pool, ii)to utilize foreigners' special knowledge of overseas markets, laws and business customs and foreign language skills, and iii)to reduce the deficit of S＆E. While Japanese organizations stress the first reason, they have not secured desirable personnel because of the problems mentioned above. The second reason is valuable for organizations outsourcing R＆D and design overseas and conducting collaborative R＆D with foreign organizations. Employment of S＆E for the third reason carries the risk of causing unemployment of domestic S＆E and depressing wage increases, which will discourage young people from choosing science and engineering as fields of study

In this research, I analyzed collaborative research networks and citation and cited paper networks of scientists in order to clarify influences of their international migration on the development of science, focusing on Japanese scientists who emigrated to the U.S. and who migrated to the U.S. and then returned to Japan. As a result, I found some conditions under which international migration of scientists promotes international collaborative research and knowledge transfer. It is also found that migration to the U.S. increases research performance of Japanese scientists

日本本企業の現行の人事システムや作業システムは，既存技術の改良による品質の向上やコストダウンという戦略には強味を発揮するが，独創的な基礎研究には適さないと指摘されている。そこで，平成4年1月の科学技術会議第18号答申で示されているように，基盤研究をはじめとする研究活動を活発化するため，研究者が創造性を最大限に発揮できるような柔軟で競争的な研究環境の整備が求められている。 本研究では，研究活動を活性化するような研究環境とは何かについて，主に作業組織と研究者の人事管理の面から調査を行った。その方法は，文献購読と現在大企業でR&Dに従事している研究者との面接調査である。また，筆者は慶應義塾大学R&D研究会に所属しそこで行われた企業の研究者に対する質問紙調査や研究会での討論からも多くの情報や示唆を得ることができた。 その結果，企業の研究者からみた基礎研究を活性化する研究環境とは，「会社トップやチームリーダーが明確な目標を立て，強力なリーダーシップの下でその目標を維持する」「研究者がデーマや研究方法の選択，時間の使い方等において自由度を持つ」「年功にこだわらず徹底的に議論ができるようなオープンな組織風土があり，また社内で情報交換が活発に行われる」「研究者が研究に専念できるようにサポートスタッフが充実している」「社外との活発な研究交流が行われる」「他者から研究者を採用したり雇用形態を多様化する」等であった。 これらの環境は，従来型の生産部門や開発部門の効率を重視した人的資源管理や作業組織とは異なる特徴を持っている。研究部門独自のそれらを確立すべきか，あるいは，確立することができるかは，企業の今後の製品戦略やR&D戦略，産業組織の動向とも深く関わっていると考えられ，今後この点に関して一層の考察を要する。