Kenichiro Chinen

Researchers have found how driving electric vehicles (EVs) can be one solution to the negative environmental impact of petrol or diesel cars because they produce substantially lower emissions and are more energy-efficient than conventional cars. EVs are predicted to be the disruptive market force for transportation and technology. Of one million EVs sold in 2017, more than half of global sales were in China. China has a strong leadership position in the EV industry. The purpose of this study is to examine the US consumers’ reliance on Country-Of-Origin (COO) information in evaluating the quality of the Chinese-brand EVs (CBEVs) made-in various countries. Researchers suggest that consumers use COO as an information cue when evaluating a product, particularly if they lack detailed knowledge of the product. The results show that the perceived product quality of electric vehicles made in various countries influences consumers’ purchasing behavior. The study also found that consumers’ ethnocentrism has an effect on their buying behavior.

Remanufacturing is one of the key determinants in enhancing resource efficiency of economies and pursuing circular economy. Facilitating international remanufacturing supply chain enhances the effects of remanufacturing. This study focused on the current scenario in remanufacturing businesses and related policies in Southeast Asia through interviews with 12 companies in 4 Southeast Asian countries, namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Philippines, and 5 Japan-based companies having remanufacturing facilities in Southeast Asia. The study presents the barriers for the remanufacturing businesses and debates on the roles of the governments to promote remanufacturing.

The topic of emerging mobility services has quickly received attention from scholars and media in recent years. Mobility services employing autonomous buses in transport systems is one such example. Mobility services using emerging technologies are expected to create social, economic, and environmental benefits. However, the potential benefits of emerging mobility services using autonomous technology will not be realized unless self-driving vehicles are accepted and used by many passengers. The recent worldwide pandemic caused us to recognize the benefits of autonomous technologies. This pretest-and-posttest designed research examines the predictors of willingness to ride autonomous buses in a closed environment. The results of this study indicate that a combination of factors, such as societal benefits, attitude and technology adoption, directly and indirectly influence an individual’s acceptance of autonomous buses. This study finds that passengers’ willingness to use emerging mobility services after a sample riding experience is higher than before having a sample riding experience.

This paper provides some insight into factors influencing the car sharing adoption and usage in Southeast-Asian developing countries like Indonesia, where car sharing is just emerging and so far, not effectively existent. This study uses an internet survey of 600 Indonesian respondents to examine how underlying factors, such as perceived benefits of car sharing related to convenience and cost-saving aspects, perceived risks and burdens of car ownership, and perceived values of car ownership as societal status can influence their intention to use car sharing. The results of the ordered logit models reveal that car sharing use intention is influenced by perceived benefits of car sharing and perceived values of car ownership as societal status. Among demographic attributes, income level has a positive effect on car sharing use intention. The implications and proper interpretations in the interplay among them can provide a useful guide to city transportation planners and business owners who attempt to promote car sharing schemes in the Southeast-Asian market like Indonesia.

The consumption of products, including automobiles, has been increasing rapidly in Asian developing and transition (D&T) countries, and appropriate diffusion of remanufacturing in the region is necessary to achieve sustainable consumption and production. This paper presents analyses of consumer perceptions of remanufactured auto parts (RAPs) in three Southeast Asian D&T countries: Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The authors conducted internet questionnaire surveys, targeting 500 respondents in each country, and examined consumers' knowledge of RAPs, perceptions of the benefits and risks, and consumers' purchase intentions of RAPs. Our study reveals that consumers' knowledge and perceived benefits of RAPs positively affect consumers' purchase intentions of RAPs in all three countries, but the influence of the perceived risks is not found. The cross-comparison of the perceptions in the countries reveals that knowledge of RAPs and the perceived benefits and risks are relatively high in Vietnam compared to those in Malaysia and Thailand. This study analyzes if consumers have a higher preference for certified RAPs than uncertified ones. A higher level of quality assurance in a country is critical for product diffusion in the market. The study clarifies that the purchasing decisions are also influenced by the country-of-origin (COO) of RAPs. Drawing on our study results, we suggest measures to promote markets for remanufactured products in D&T countries and provide policy options to accelerate the promotion of resource efficiency practices.

This study investigates consumers' perception and their green purchasing behavior relating to remanufactured auto parts (RAPs) in Japan, where RAPs market remains relatively undeveloped. It also reports factors affecting green purchasing behavior in the US, where RAPs enjoy a long history and continuing success. This study uses an internet survey of 500 Japanese and 473 US respondents to examine how underlying factors, such as consumer knowledge of RAPs, perceptions of benefits and risk, and price consciousness, influence the behavioral intentions of consumers. The results indicate that purchase intention is strongly influenced by these underlying factors in two different markets. This study also provides a brief historical review of the growth of the Japanese RAPs market. In the review, stakeholders' influences on consumers’ perception of RAPs are highlighted. The implications of the results and review on effective measures to promote RAPs in Japan and in an economy where markets for remanufactured products are in their early stage of development are discussed. [Display omitted] •The market situations of remanufactured auto parts are different in the US and Japan.•The factors affecting the purchasing behavior of reman auto parts were analyzed.•Product knowledge positively influences the purchase intention of reman auto parts.•Perceived risk negatively influences the purchase intention of reman auto parts.•A common marketing approach can be adapted in different reman auto parts markets.

Purpose - The research of industrial clusters, trust, and learning can be traced back to early strategic management and organization theory. The purpose of this paper is to review past literature and offer a conceptual framework that is related to industrial clusters, trust and learning.Design methodology approach - This study incorporates a literature review to filter key factors of industrial clusters, trust and learning by using a deductive approach to conclude a conceptual framework.Findings - This study provides a conceptual framework which includes a firm's industrial cluster involvement, trust and learning. Based on the literature, inter-organizational trust may be strengthened due to reduced proximity and better information flow within a cluster. Further, industrial clusters encourage co-evolution and co-adaptation that stimulates effective learning practices for clustering firms.Research limitations implications - This study uses a literature review and offers a conceptual framework to examine a firm's involvement in industrial clusters with the possible influences of trust and organizational learning. There is a need for empirical as well as statistical analysis to validate the framework and to obtain more insight.Practical implications - Industrial clusters are widely considered a network-based industrial system, with the aim of adapting to fast-changing markets and technologies as an organized whole. Firms within a cluster can work together to co-evolve for the purpose of enhancing competitiveness and entering the world market through effective learning and inter-firm trust. As the sum of the benefit of a cluster is of greater value than each individual company or institution, whether to be involved in an industrial cluster to sustain competitiveness and enhance learning is worthy of managers' consideration.Originality value - The major contribution of this work is that it is the first attempt to produce the measures for a firm's involvement in industrial clusters for empirical tests, which are generally considered insufficient in this area of research. Further, this study offers a conceptual framework which brings cluster, trust and learning together for future empirical study.

Purpose - Supporters of globalization highlight a major increase in the standard of living for many workers in China while critics argue that the amazing economic growth has led to an increase in pollution and harsh labor conditions in the country. The purpose of this research is to investigate policy variations of multinational enterprises (MNEs) labor practices in China.Design methodology approach - The empirical research is based on a questionnaire survey that collected data from MNEs in China.Findings - This study finds that both Hong Kong Taiwanese and US European MNEs comply with minimum wages, benefits, health insurance, and legal requirements in China, but do not go beyond meeting or exceeding Chinese standards. This study also finds that US European MNEs tend to make better decisions in dealing with safety in the workplace and environmental pollution.Practical implications - It appears that as firms expand globally and have more overseas experience, they approach issues of ethics with caution and try to avoid business practices that would hurt their images.Originality value - The paper offers insights into policy variations of MNEs' labor practices in China.