Akifumi Kuchiki

The Open University of Japan

Clusters of knowledge-intensive industries and manufacturing industries form industrial agglomeration in Step I and activate innovation in Step II. Industry clusters are formed by building segments. “Construction sequencing” in the construction industry refers to the process of determining the sequence of segments to optimize a project’s resources,...

A “segment” is a component of the organization of an agglomeration. The organization of agglomeration is formed by the construction of segments. Manufacturing agglomeration segments can be divided into four main categories: human resources including engineers, physical infrastructure, institutions, and living environment. Each segment then has a sp...

This paper identifies the importance of reducing fixed costs for establishing industrial zones as part of an agglomeration policy. China’s economic growth has been driven by the agglomeration of manufacturing firms via industrial zones that attract foreign direct investment. This investment enables the export of products by importing intermediate c...

Renewable energy (RE) is key to averting the climate crisis, and public support is central to its successful implementation. In this study, we examined the impact that knowledge of energy policy and energy issues has on public support for different energy types. This was achieved through the use of an online survey of residents of Kazakhstan. As a...

An agglomeration is an organization composed of its segments such as infrastructure and institutions. Sequencing economics discusses the sequential process analysis of building the segments of an agglomeration. The concept of ‘economies of sequence’ can be defined as the selection of any two segments from among the set of segments of an agglomerati...

In this paper, we seek to establish ‘sequencing economics’ in an architectural theory on agglomerations that are comprised of various segments, such as infrastructure, institutions and human resources. The sequencing of such segments is based on a causal chain, with the notion of ‘economies of sequence’ regarded as a tool with which to efficiently...

In this article, we analyzed the effects of radioactive contamination from the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site on food choices in Kazakhstan. Nearly 90% of citizens in Kazakhstan knew their health had been affected by radioactive material from the nuclear test site, with more than 50% of citizens still confirming the safety of foodstuffs regarding...

Industrialization, supported by industrial hubs, has been widely associated with structural transformation and catch-up in developing, emerging, and advanced economies. There are about 6,000 industrial hubs spread across 147 countries, with a high concentration in emerging and developing economies, particularly in Asia. While the direct economic be...

This paper focuses on an architecture-based theory of agglomeration. An agglomeration is composed of a number of segments such as physical infrastructure facilitation including airports and stations. ‘Economies of sequence’ can be defined as the sequencing of the segments toward the efficient building of an agglomeration. The main three findings ar...

The segments of an industrial agglomeration consist of physical infrastructure, institutions, human resources and living conditions. The ‘economies of sequence’ is defined as building segments in an efficient sequence. Prerequisite conditions on segments comprise those segments that contribute to a reduction in transport costs. The Granger causalit...

In this chapter Kuchiki proposes a flowchart approach to the information technology industry cluster policy to prioritize policy measures for forming the segments of a cluster. The two cases of economies of sequence to determine the policy measures to efficiently form the segments of the information technology industry cluster were found concerning...

The authors explore what role (the opening of) an international airport plays in the creation of tourism clusters and what impact it has on the economy, using Hong Kong and Singapore as case examples. The process of development of the international airports and tourism industry clusters in the two countries is reviewed, and the trend in average ann...

The authors propose a strategy to develop the agriculture-food-tourism industry cluster by networking railway lines based on Japanese experiences of developing them in the private sector. Ichizo Kobayashi, the founder of Hankyu Corporation, developed a railway line and formed a railway-led agriculture-food-tourism industry cluster in Kansai, includ...

The Sustainable Development Goals set in 2015 by the United Nations are an attempt to foster innovation, although the main aim is to narrow the economic gap and protect the environment. Mega free trade agreements (FTAs) aimed at regional integration, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, not...

Kuchiki and Mizobe focus on the processes of the formation of an industrial cluster in the field of manufacturing. The methodology seeks to apply the concept of the levels of organization to the formation processes of an industrial cluster. A cluster is efficiently formed when the sequence of segment formation is in the optimal order. The economies...

Kuchiki regards the formation process of an industrial cluster as a form of ontogenesis, analyses the formation process of segments of an industrial cluster and examines the sequence of the formation process. A segment is a part of the body that performs a specific function. Hox genes in genetic engineering play a leading role in forming the segmen...

The model of an agro-food processing industry cluster presented by Kuchiki and Mizobe offers possibilities to compensate the input-output linkage and employment generation. The following four results are obtained. First, the average value of the summation of the effects in forward and backward linkages of the machinery industry is less than and alm...

This book proposes measures to promote regional industrial development in East Asia from the perspective of three industries: agriculture, food, and tourism. The authors argue that for regional agriculture to develop, collaboration with the food industry is essential. Further, by linking tourism, economic collaboration between the three industries...

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. © Institute of Developing Economies (IDE), JETRO 2011. All rights reserved.

Industrial cluster policies have been put into practice in many countries around the world, including in Asia. Our previous studies, such as Kuchiki (2005) and Kuchiki and Tsuji (2005, 2008) postulated a hypothesis regarding the formation of industrial clusters which is referred to as the ‘Flowchart Approach’. This approach explains the formation i...

This book provided a critical useful framework to explain the formation of agglomeration and the endogenous innovation process and to construct models to upgrade industrial clusters to knowledge-based ones. The underlying theory of these processes is ‘the Flowchart Approach’, which we have been proposing in Kuchiki and Tsuji (2005, 2008), and Tsuji...

For the last several years, we have studied industrial agglomeration and made an attempt to explain why firms agglomerate (see for example, Kagami and Tsuji (2003), Kuchiki and Tsuji (2005)). Industrial agglomeration is not a single phenomenon, but it has lots of variety: Kagami and Tsuji (2003) summarize agglomerations into five categories: (1) cl...

Whether a region’s economy can survive in the competitive world may depend on the success or failure of industrial cluster policy. There are various types of industrial clusters in Asia — the automobile industry cluster in the suburbs of Bangkok in Thailand, the electronics industry cluster at the Thang Long Industrial Park (TLIP) in Hanoi, Vietnam...

In this paper, we apply a flowchart approach to investigate Malaysia's automobile cluster policy. We investigate whether the industrial cluster policy has been successful or not, suggest policy prescriptions, and propose a way to prioritize policy measures. Our flowchart approach leads to the following three policy prescriptions: (1) Malaysian firm...

This paper proposes a general model of the flowchart approach to industrial cluster policy and applies this model to Guangzhou's automobile industry cluster. The flowchart approach to industrial cluster policy is an action plan for prioritizing policy measures in a time-ordered series. We reached the following two conclusions. First,we clarified th...

This paper examines three types of industrialization that have occurred in East Asia: the Japanese, Chinese and generic Asian models. Industrial policies in Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) initially protected local companies from foreign investors by imposing high tariffs on foreign investors. But Japan began introducing liberalization polici...

This paper proposes a flowchart approach to the automobile industry cluster policy and the hi-technology industry cluster policy to prioritize policy measures. First, in the automobile industry cluster, suppliers of parts and components to anchor firms such as Honda, Nissan and Toyota of Japanese assembly makers in Guangzhou, China, can innovate pa...

We obtain the three following conclusions. First, business cycles depend on prices of stocks and primary commodities such as crude oil. Second, stock prices and oil prices generate psychological cycles with different periods. Third, there exist cases of "negative bubble" under certain conditions. Integrating the above results, we can find a role of...

It is expected that an Asian triangle of growth will be formed in the coming few decades. China, India and ASEAN surround the Asian triangle, which is home to many industrial clusters. Multinational corporations will link these clusters together. Regional integration will help them in this task by lowering the barriers of national borders. This pap...

A flowchart approach to industrial cluster policy emphasizes the importance ofthe ordering of policy measures. The flow of policy implementation is to establish an industrial zone, to invite an anchor company, and to promote its related companies to invest in the industrial zone. This article delineated "a flowchart approach to industrial cluster p...

Policy for forming industrial clusters — industrial cluster policy — plays an important role in the development of any region in East Asia. Such policy is followed not only in Japan by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry but also in most countries in the area, such as Malaysia and Singapore. Silicon Valley in the USA and Bangalore in India...

Our static model concludes that a multinational in industry of diminishing returns to scale will increase production of a region in a developing country if its exchange rate to the developing country is appreciated. Our dynamic model also shows that the longer its investment period becomes the more the currency exchange rate of a multinational's co...

This article examined the issue of whether or not the currency exchange rate, country risk, and cooperate tax rate affect decisions of multinational firms to invest in industrial clusters. First, if the exchange rate between a multinational company in an industry of diminishing returns to scale and a developing country is appreciated, then producti...

This paper builds a prototype model of how to prioritize policies by using a flowchart. We presented the following six steps to decide priorities of policies: Step 1 is to attain the social subsistence level (primary education, health care, and food sufficiency); Step 2 is to attain macroeconomic stability; Step 3 is to liberalize the economy by st...

During the 1990s, the Japanese economy was caught in a cycle of slow growth and recession despite high levels of government spending and interest rates of close to zero percent. Twice the economy showed signs of reviving, following injections of public spending and expansionary monetary policies. But the revival could not be sustained because consu...

New trends are now taking place within manufacturing industries led by multi-national corporations (MNCs). Globalization and liberalization together with the information technology (IT) revolution has accelerated “fables” industry in the network economy, i.e. outsourcing production processes and global parts procurement by MNCs. As a consequence of...

The object of this paper is to try to make clear the pricing mechanism for primary commodities since the 1970s through an analysis of price movements of primary commodities over the ensuing period. Section I quantitatively analyzes the three characteristics of the pricing mechanism: volatility, linkage, and cycles, which are tested by coefficients...

Abstract: The flowchart approach is an architectural theory for industrial hub construction, or agglomeration. The organization of an agglomeration is composed of such segments as the physical infrastructure and regulations. The workflow is the dynamic process of building the segments of an agglomeration. The economies of sequence are defined as th...

The Vietnamese economy has continued to achieve a high economic growth of 8% since 1992. And the Asian Development Bank estimates the GDP growth rate in 1995 and 1996 at a near double-digit high (8.5% in 1995 and 9.0% in 1996).