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The purpose of this paper is to clarify how to develop a global brand through examining the case of MUJI.

To build a global brand, a company is required to develop a repeatable business model that turns the source of differentiation into activity systems. So, from this hypothesis, the paper examines how the MUJI strategy worked and failed in the process of rapid growth.

MUJI succeeded in differentiation by proposing attractive value, developing products embodying its value and establishing its brand image through its stores. However, its rapid growth seriously damaged and diluted its brand image; and MUJI did not build a rational management system to respond to its expansion; consequently, MUJI’s business performance deteriorated. To revitalize its brand, MUJI reconstructed its product and store development and introduced a low-cost operating system through learning from another company.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.

The case study of MUJI suggests that building a global brand is required to integrate its value communication into product and store development and to develop a business model to sustain its business globally.

Drawing on signaling theory, the purpose of this study is to explore how high-performance work systems (HPWS) interact with leader–member exchange (LMX) to predict employees' proactive behavior and job engagement. Moreover, the present study also proposes the mediating role of job engagement in the interactive effects of HPWS and LMX quality on proactive behavior.

The data of this study include 228 customer-contact employees and 44 store managers from chain store enterprises in the service sector in Taiwan. The proposed models were tested with hierarchical linear modeling and Monte Carlo simulation.

The results show a significant interactive effect of HPWS and LMX on job engagement and proactive behavior. In addition, job engagement serves as a vital mechanism linking the interactive effect of HPWS and LMX quality on proactive behavior.

This study uses signaling theory to unpack the question when and how HPWS can be more influential on employees' proactive behavior. In particular, the positive effect of HPWS on proactive behavior is more prominent only when employees enjoy high LMX quality with their respective line managers. In addition, the interactive effects of HPWS and LMX quality on proactive behavior are mediated by job engagement. The findings provide valuable theoretical and managerial contribution by integrating HRM and leadership research.

The paper aims to propose general design rules and route plan for automated guided vehicle system (AGVS). The AGVS is applied to automated meter verification areas through a case study of meter verification shop floor to verify the feasibility.

The paper gives an appropriate route design for AGVS and proposes an optimized strategy for designed routes and a control system to manage traffic conflict.

This case study indicates that the application of AGVS can highly improve the efficiency of manufacturing and production. Besides, a reasonable transportation plan is beneficial in making the system run smoothly and in cutting conveying time.

The application of AGVS integrates a variety of advanced technologies (i.e. information technology, artificial intelligence, etc.) into the electricity meter verification system, which brings great economic and social benefits via enhancing the verification efficiency and reducing the total labor costs.

The application proposed in the paper solves the problem that the verification almost relies on workers, labor intensity is high and work efficiency is hard to improve. Furthermore, the general rules and strategies of AGVS transportation can be applied not only to the automated electricity meter verification but also in other industrial areas.

The purpose of this paper is to use the framework of rule-based and relation-based governance to examine the evolution of governance environment in the East Asian region including China, South Korea and Taiwan.

Both qualitative and quantitative evidences are presented to demonstrate the paths these East Asian countries take in their transitions from relation-based governance to rule-based governance. Based on the framework, this analysis sheds light on the debate on whether East Asian economies will eventually move away from relation-based governance to rule-based societies.

The authors find that relation-based governance has helped East Asian countries achieve rapid economic growth in the early stages of their development. However, as the scale and scope of East Asian economies expand, continuing to rely on it may hinder their further development and therefore these countries should adopt a rule-based governance system in order to be efficient and competitive in the world market. While South Korea and Taiwan have made substantial progress in this transition, China has just embarked on the process.

This paper is among the first to systematically review the theories and evidence of the transition and the challenges East Asian countries face during the process.

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/14635770710819263. When citing the article, please cite: Yee-Ming Chen, Pei-Ni Huang, (2007), “Bi-negotiation integrated AHP in suppliers selection”, Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 14 Iss: 5, pp. 575 - 593.

In this paper, a formula for life prediction of SMT solder joints under thermal cycling has been established on a damage model. The major failure mechanisms such as fatigue, creep and atmospheric oxidation have been considered in the formula. The experimental verification shows that the life formula established in this paper coincides with the experimental results.

With the rapid growth of the gig economy worldwide, gig workers’ perceived algorithmic control has been proven to have a crucial impact on the service performance, well-being and mental health of gig workers. However, the literature suggests that gig workers’ perceived algorithmic control may be a double-edged sword. The purpose of this research is to explore how the perceived algorithmic control of gig workers can accelerate thriving at work.

Based on the model of proactive motivation and work design literature, a three-wave survey was employed, yielding 281 completed responses. The structural equation modeling method was used to test the theoretical hypothesis.

The results indicate that gig workers’ perceived algorithmic control has positive and indirect effects on thriving at work through the mediating role of job crafting. In addition, job autonomy can moderate the mediated relationship; specifically, when job autonomy is high, this mediated relationship will be stronger.

The health and well-being of gig workers is a concern around the world. The findings provide insights for service platform enterprises and gig workers.

Perceived algorithmic control is critical to mental health and positive work experiences during a gig worker’s service process. However, the current literature focuses more on the negative aspects of algorithmic control. This paper provides a comprehensive research agenda for how to accelerate thriving at work for gig workers.

This paper describes a research and development effort on a GIS‐based pipeline planning system (GIS‐based PPS). Research was first conducted to identify the aspects of pipeline planning and pipeline network design that could benefit from a computer assisted approach, and the recent advancements in information technology. This paper describes a cohesive computer environment that integrates the hydraulic analysis and geographic information processing with a graphic user interface (GUI), in order to improve the effectiveness of pipeline design functions. An interactive system prototype was implemented and is currently being applied in real‐world pipeline network planning and design for municipal and industrial water conveyance.

Extensive atomistic simulations of the mechanical deformation of defective nanowires (NWs) were performed using the embedded-atom molecular dynamics modeling approach. The investigation focuses on the coupled effects of various vacancy cluster (VC) defects, operation temperature, and wire cross-sectional area on the mechanical properties and plastic deformations of defective NWs. The stress-strain behaviors show that the elastic modulus is independent of the vacancy cluster defects. Quasi-linear decreasing Young's moduli were observed with increasing operation temperature. For a given operation temperature, NW Young's modulus increased with increasing NW size.

Parallel processing technology was applied to accelerate the calculation speed of the water quality forecasting model. The parallel algorithm proposed was based on the message-passing interface (MPI). It mainly aims at enhancing the computation speed of the water quality forecasting model of Jiaozhou Bay, and decomposes the material transport issue into many sub-duties. The model was run in a MPI message cluster system. The result indicates that, by using this method, the computation efficiency for solving material transportation module is increased by approximately more than 60%.