Scope of Symposium

The main theme of the symposium will be gSupply Chain and Information Technology as Enablers of Globalization.h Globalization is a key word for many Japanese companies as well as non-Japanese companies which wish to sustain the momentum of growth. The globalization of business assumes companies have to adjust to institutional differences such as political rules, cultures, languages, etc. But an important fact is people welcome economic prosperity. This is a common value that motivates people to go global and exchange economic transactions with foreign people and organizations. Furthermore, an important requirement is such economic value creation activity (business) people can rely on should be sustainable in terms of competitiveness and environment. In other words, the process of value creation needs to be sustainable. The globalization of business implies companies should design and operate sustainable value creation processes under a strategic choice of geographical scope. This is the reason why JOMSA focuses on this theme. One more word, Supply Chain and Information Technology are key factors to mobilize such competitive value creation processes.

This conference will address the globalization of business from the view point of Supply Chain and Information Technology. People say the Japanese manufacturing companies in many industrial sectors have been losing competitiveness since the corruption of the bubble economy. As a fact, GDP of Japan remains stagnated. Value creation competence looks waned. During the period, except some companies or industries, many companies kept standing still away from globalization or could not go global successfully. gThe Lost 20 yearsh is indeed a right expression to describe those companiesf behaviors. The conference theme signifies that Supply Chain and Information Technology are essential enablers towards the globalization of business. We hypothesize that gThe Lost 20 yearsh is a result of inadequacy of these enablersf leverage in many Japanese companies and industries. We propose competitive supply chain and information technology competence are key success factors for the globalization of business.

The conference intends to inquire into the relationship between the globalization of business and those enablers. Also we wish active discussions why those enablers have been missing and how they can be developed will be ignited at the conference. We will feature invited sessions besides regular ones to focus consistently on the conference theme. We call for specific ideas or plans for the invited session. We list up specific sub-themes of the conference to induce such ideas or proposals as follows.

The value creation under the global business environment involves international collaborative works among relevant people and organizations. We will be more productive in this intelligent odyssey by active participation of people from all over the world. We wish those intellectually motivated people will assemble for this conference to share the knowledge and contribute to next prosperity of the world economy.