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Producers of printing inks are undoubtedly more experienced in the formulation of packaging and speciality printing inks than we are. Nevertheless we have chosen the topic of “Pigments for packaging and speciality printing” because we believe that only through close co‐operation with the printing ink manufacturer can we, the pigment producer, continue to supply product advancements that will meet present and future pigment needs.

In uncertain and emerging conditions, businesses must adopt new strategies to compete and survive the changing and unstable environment. This research seeks to investigate the role of dynamic capabilities in the competitiveness of startups, emphasizing resilience and strategic alignment.

Isfahan Scientific and Research Town has always been a pioneer in the field of science and technology in Iran and is known as the most extensive technology and knowledge-based complex in Iran. The sample size of 300 companies active in the startup field was selected using a simple random sampling method. Questionnaires were collected from the managers of technological startup companies in Isfahan, and the SEM model was used to analyze the data.

This research shows that dynamic capabilities in terms of coordination, flexibility and integration significantly impact competitiveness. Resilience and strategic alignment also increase the organization’s performance and strengthen the organization in gaining a more competitive advantage in the industry.

Finally, dynamic capabilities indirectly affect competitiveness through resilience and strategic alignment. This shows a need for strategic alignment and resilience to change advantage shape in dynamic conditions.

Tankfreight Ltd., of Harrogate, part of the employee‐owned National Freight Consortium, has been awarded a major contract by Vinyl Products on the basis of their ability to offer an extremely economical all‐round package.

Arrangements for regional economic integration, under the WTO system, have unexpectedly dominated globalization. In fact, countries that have realized economic arrangements, such as the EU 's monetary union, are further expanding their efforts to achieve political integration. Regional economic integration is now considered an exigency of national affairs. North East Asian countries are also affected by this global predicament, but the issue involves greater structural complexities in this region. The emergence of China has forced Japan and Korea to contemplate difficult structural adjustments. For example, while the Korean government recognizes the importance of stronger intra-regional economic cooperation, by pursuing these arrangements it simultaneously faces the dilemma of maintaining traditional partnerships, such as those with the USA and Japan. If Korea actively supports regional economic arrangements, this action would be perceived as a bias toward China, consequently damaging ties with the US. Thus, rather than depending on public initiatives to establish economic ties in North East Asia, China, Japan and Korea should rely on market friendly projects initiated by the private sector that endorse gradual integration through non-political activities and exchanges among the citizens of the respective countries. This paper first proposes the founding of a North East Asian United University Community composed of students, professors and campuses of the three countries in the initial stages. Secondly, it proposes the development of unique Asian commodities, a concept similar to that of 'Airbus. ' Finally, it proposes utilization of retired Japanese, Korean and Chinese engineers and technicians to speed up the overall level of technology, which is critical to overcoming backwardness in this region.

This paper examines the influence Japan’s participation in the TPP negotiations will have on the course of subsequent East Asian economic integration, and mainly from the perspective of the three Northeast Asian countries of Japan, China and the ROK. In the first half, as a premise thereto, we first bring together the development of the FTA policies of China, the ROK and Japan, and then the connections with East Asian economic integration.

This paper aims to examine lean thinking in medical commodities supply chains by considering its applications and success factors. It determines the drivers and wastes of medical commodity supply chain, and the existing lean tools and practices together with their application in the supply chain processes. The paper also examined the challenges and success factors for effective lean application in the medical commodities supply chains.

The study used qualitative approaches, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with key informants to form the basis for data collection. Through thematic analysis, the collected data were analyzed by developing themes reflecting the objectives of the study.

The main drivers for waste associated with the supply chain were demand management, supplier development, institutional framework and governance. The wastes were observed at the level of inventory, operation costs, transaction costs, delays in terms of service, commodity delivery time and quality. Digitalization, information technology and standardization were the tools for medical supply chain. Poor infrastructure, unreliable internet supply, environmental uncertainty and poor management support were challenges to realizing an effective supply chain.

Although the qualitative approach used in the study provides detailed information, a quantitative study covers a larger sample for generalization.

Capacity building and professionalism should be given a priority because the philosophy of lean focuses on waste removal and continuous improvement, which highly depends on the quality of human resource (Brito et al., 2020). Limited human resource capabilities in supply chain management will, therefore, result into poor operational efficiency, which are wasted. Moreover, systems interoperability is key waste minimization and, therefore, demands interventions.

The government under the Ministry of Health and other key sector ministries such as local and regional governments should better understand the role of the waste drivers and adopt system-wide reforms to support improvements to remove waste in the medical supply chain. For example, the current institutional framework creates an administrative block and hence leads to wastes. This bureaucratic procedure should be removed to minimize wastes along the chain.

This study is among the first studies to determine applicability and implementation of lean in a resource-constrained context. The paper identifies contextual factors for lean implementation. This paper focused on a holistic view of the entire supply chains to enhance a well-functioning supply chain in delivering health commodities.

The purpose of this paper is to explain Japan’s role in the peace process on the Korean Peninsula that began in early 2018.

This paper emphasizes the historical context of international politics in Northeast Asia, rather than power politics or geopolitics. The paper reaffirms the significance of the ongoing peace process on the Korean Peninsula by considering a synthesis of three joint declarations published in 1998, 2000 and 2002 between the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan, the ROK and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and between the DPRK and Japan.

The normalization of diplomatic relations between DPRK and Japan, along with reaffirmation of the joint declaration between the ROK and Japan, and the Panmunjeom Declaration, would be a base for denuclearizing Northeast Asia.

In Northeast Asia, historical reconciliation among the two Koreas and Japan and peace-building between the two parties on the Peninsula are closely linked. Moreover, the three bilateral relationships among these three parties are also the basis for creating a new multilateral security order in Northeast Asia.

This descriptive, non-experiment case study addresses the little-studied topic of martial arts tourism within the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK; i.e., North Korea) to determine if it is a form of non-entertainment tourism.

The current research focusses on a single subject (Singaporean female; 36 years of age (at time of interview); Taekwon-Do 4th degree black belt) who travelled to the DPRK three times to practice the Korean martial art Taekwon-Do. After the initial contact, a questionnaire was used and direct interviews via Skype and Facebook were performed. A broad thematic discourse, as well as analysis of the subject’s travel and practice notes and photographs from her stay in the DPRK, were also incorporated into the findings.

The subject developed new Taekwon-Do skills, which permitted her to obtain higher Taekwon-Do ranks as well as enriched her personality and changed certain conceptions. Self-realization and self-improvement through martial arts are the dominant motives of martial arts tourism. Therefore, the subject’s motivation confirms martial arts tourism can be a variation of non-entertainment tourism.

This research is hindered by the standard case study limitations: it is difficult to generalize this study’s results to the wider DPRK population, the interviewee’s and researchers’ subjective feelings may have influenced the findings, and selection bias is definitely a factor because of the study’s population being a single female of non-DPRK origin.

As one of the first studies on DPRK martial arts tourism and practice, this research examines where research on the DPRK and martial arts tourism intersect. It is thusly unique in providing new insights into the DPRK’s intention for its tourism industry, as well as Taekwon-Do, arguably its most marketable cultural asset.

This paper aims to provide a case study of complex conflict management within the arms race on the Korean Peninsula. Exploring the complex nexus of nuclear weapons, asymmetry and a qualitative arms race, the study explains how the arms race between Seoul and Pyongyang has promoted stability on the Korean Peninsula.

Presenting the limits of arguments that the US security guarantee is the factor that saved the two Koreas from going to war again, this paper explores the utility of the inter-Korean arms race as a stabilizer that promotes indirect negotiations. While presenting Korean anomalies, this paper analyzes the three stages of the inter-Korean arms race – especially its nuclear weapons, its asymmetry and the nature of arms races – and provides extant explanations on the causes and consequences of the qualitative arms race. These key elements drive the states’ strategic motives.

Using the case of the inter-Korean qualitative arms race and US extended nuclear deterrence on the Korean Peninsula, the study shows the complexities of conflict management today. This paper identifies three contributing factors – US nuclear weapons, asymmetry and the qualitative characteristic of the arms race – to explain the enduring stability on the peninsula despite the arms race’s intensification. The paper finds that although US nuclear-extended deterrence plays a critical role, it does not capture the full context of the ongoing, dynamic inter-Korean arms race; a prolonged arms race between the two Koreas has become a new regularity; the qualitative characteristic of the inter-Korean arms race, which is driven by technological advancement, contributes to stability in the arms race; and as the constant mismatch in priority technologies becomes more severe, the changes to the existing asymmetry could increase instability.

This paper offers a diverse perspective to the literature on conflict management and captures the complexities of 21^st-century conflict management. Through a thorough examination of the inter-Korean arms race, it brings readers’ attention to the nested dynamics within the arms race and shows how an intensifying arms race can promote stability. Furthermore, the paper explains the implications for potential instability – fueled by the comprehensive mix of a dynamic qualitative arms race and the US extended nuclear deterrence – in the Indo-Pacific region.

In this paper, the authors aim to propose a method for learning robotic assembly sequences, where precedence constraints and object relative size and location constraints can be learned by demonstration and autonomous robot exploration.

To successfully plan the operations involved in assembly tasks, the planner needs to know the constraints of the desired task. In this paper, the authors propose a methodology for learning such constraints by demonstration and autonomous exploration. The learning of precedence constraints and object relative size and location constraints, which are needed to construct a planner for automated assembly, were investigated. In the developed system, the learning of symbolic constraints is integrated with low-level control algorithms, which is essential to enable active robot learning.

The authors demonstrated that the proposed reasoning algorithms can be used to learn previously unknown assembly constraints that are needed to implement a planner for automated assembly. Cranfield benchmark, which is a standardized benchmark for testing algorithms for robot assembly, was used to evaluate the proposed approaches. The authors evaluated the learning performance both in simulation and on a real robot.

The authors' approach reduces the amount of programming that is needed to set up new assembly cells and consequently the overall set up time when new products are introduced into the workcell.

In this paper, the authors propose a new approach for learning assembly constraints based on programming by demonstration and active robot exploration to reduce the computational complexity of the underlying search problems. The authors developed algorithms for success/failure detection of assembly operations based on the comparison of expected signals (forces and torques, positions and orientations of the assembly parts) with the actual signals sensed by a robot. In this manner, all precedence and object size and location constraints can be learned, thereby providing the necessary input for the optimal planning of the entire assembly process.