Tohru Yoshioka-Kobayashi, Associate Professor, has been awarded the Best Paper Award at the 2025 JPIM Research Forum, organized by the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA). His conference paper was recognized for its significant contribution to the field of product development and innovation management.
This achievement underscores IIR’s commitment to advancing research with international impact, bridging academia and business practice.
Organization:
The Product Development and Management Association
Award:
2025 JPIM Research Forum Best Paper Award
Date:
September 13, 2025 (Chicago, USA)
Award Winner:
Tohru Yoshioka-Kobayashi (Associate Professor, IIR)
Atsushi Akiike (Associate Professor, Tohoku University)
Sotaro Katsumata (Professor, Osaka University)
Article Title:
“A technological turbulence in a product category and a borrowing of style from other product categories: An explorative study of the U.S. design patents”
Abstract of the paper:
This study examines how technological turbulence affects the effectiveness of borrowing product appearance styles from other categories. Using a dataset of U.S. design patents in home electronics (1990–2017), we explore the relationship between cross-category stylistic borrowing and design impact, measured by forward citations. Results show that borrowing styles from other product categories enhances design impact only when the focal category is technologically stable. Furthermore, this positive effect occurs only when the borrowing involves third-party products, not brand extensions. These findings provide empirical support for consumer information processing theory and offer practical implications for design strategy during different phases of technological change.
Date：
October 27（Monday), 2025
from 14:30 to 16:00
Topic:
“Shaping Sustainable Futures: Innovation in Reporting and Zero-Emission Pathways for the Shipping and Energy Sectors”
Speaker:
Mauricio Latapí
(Assistant Professor, Mount Royal University, Canada)
Venue:
onsite
IIR Laboratory 1 (Room#119) of the first floor of the IIR building
Organizer:
Karube, Masaru
This forum is jointly organized by MIC (Management Innovation Research Center), Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study.
Deadline:
9:00, October 27, 2025
For registration, please click on “Innovation Forum” below.
Vol.73 No.2 AUT. 2025 (In Japanese)
A leading management journal in Japanese,
which builds a bridge between theory and practice.
EDITED BY
Hitotsubashi University, Institute of Innovation Research
PUBLISHED BY
Toyo Keizai Inc.
The Light and Shadow of New Organizational Management
Masaru Karube / Daisuke Uchida / Yasuo Fujita
“Reconsidering Work-life Balance in the Context of Mental Health Challenges”
Satoko Tatsumi
“Reconsidering the Meaning of Gathering: Rebuilding Relationships and Management beyond Remote Work”
Shoto Furuya
“Why Do They Stay?: Understanding Quiet Committing beyond the Binary of Retention and Turnover”
Masahiro Yoshizaki / Ryuta Suzuki
“Expectant Stayers: How Expectations toward the Organization Shape Unwilling Retention”
Bumpei Sunaguchi / Ryuta Suzuki
“Start and Stagnation:The Hidden Sides Affecting Change in Organizations”
Michael A. Cusumano
“Generative AI and DeepSeek: A Global Innovation Platform with New Competition from China”
●Content Business Reflecting Society (4)
Fumihiko Ikuine
●Welcome to a Gourmet’s Guide to Business Cases (2)
Atsushi Tsumita
●Entrepreneurs Who Change the World (24)
Miku Hirano
Interviewed by Yaichi Aoshima / Masatoshi Fujiwara
●Business Cases
Toichiro Yonemitsu
“Yokohama City”
Masaru Karube / Yuki Miyazawa / Gentaro Fujita
“Aiya”
●Management Forum
Shinichi Inoue
(President and CEO of All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd.)
Interviewed by Seiichiro Yonekura
Date：
October 15（Wednesday), 2025
from 16:00 to 17:30
Topic:
“Business Scholars on Boards and Firm Innovation”
Speaker:
Cornelia Storz
(Professor, Goethe University, Frankfurt)
Abstract:
Why do business scholars-directors, rather than STEM scholar-directors, drive firm innovation? This paper addresses this unexpected pattern through an abductive research design combining panel data, interviews, and publication analysis. Drawing on a hand-collected dataset of Chinese listed firms (2008–2018), we show that business scholars on corporate boards enhance innovation by contributing strategic knowledge – higher-order, portable insights rooted in frameworks, heuristics, and theories that help firms navigate the uncertainty inherent in innovation across market dynamics, organizational design, and competitive positioning. We theorize strategic knowledge as a distinct asset, whose impact is contingent on insider technology directors’ presence and social validation. By challenging prevailing assumptions about scientific expertise, we contribute to the knowledge-based view and corporate governance literature, reframing how strategy-related higher-order expertise can support firm-level innovation.
Venue:
onsite
IIR Laboratory 2 (Room#219) of the second floor of the IIR building
Organizer:
Aoshima, Yaichi
This forum is jointly organized by MIC (Management Innovation Research Center), Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study.
Deadline:
9:00, October 15, 2025
For registration, please click on “Innovation Forum” below.
IIR Innovation Research Workshop was held at Mercury Hall, Hitotsubashi University and online on August 28 & 29, 2025.
The purpose of this IIR Innovation Research Workshop is to promote innovation research by building researcher networks, offering a place for presenting the latest research results, and supporting young researchers.
This year, a total of 17 presentations were made.
We are honored to welcome Prof. Kenneth Huang (Professor, National University of Singapore) as our guest keynote speaker.
The Best Presentation Award was awarded to Prof. Kevin Tseng (Professor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong).
The title of his presentation was “Learning via the Band of Brothers: Evidence of Entrepreneurial Spillover”.
This year’s IIR Innovation Research Workshop, hybrid event with on-site and online delivery, was well received. We thank them all for their participation.
The program of IIR Innovation Research Workshop can be accessed from below.
program2025
To promote energy conservation on campus and to refresh the minds and bodies of faculty and staff, we will have a summer vacation from August 9 to August 14. Offices will be closed during this time. We ask for your cooperation.
CLOSED: from Saturday, August 9, 2025 to Thursday, August 14, 2025
We will resume work on Friday, August 15, 2025.
Thank you.
IIR, Hitotsubashi University
■IIR Innovation Research Workshop 2025（Hybrid）
This year, the Institute of Innovation Research at Hitotsubashi University will hold the 3rd IIR Innovation Research Workshop. To promote, drive, and boost innovation research, we welcome students, researchers, and practitioners to exchange knowledge and creativity.
Date: August 28-29, 2025
Venue: Multipurpose Room, Mercury Tower 7F, Kunitachi-east campus, Hitotsubashi University
(2-4 Higashi, Kunitachi, Tokyo)& ZOOM Meeting
*Audience members will be able to join us online and in-person.
CALL for PAPERSDeadline: May 30, 2025CLICK HERE
CALL for AUDIENCEDeadline: 9:00, August 21, 2025CLICK HERE
On July 17, Professor Rudi Beckers from Eindhoven University of Technology visited the Institute of Innovation Research with approximately 20 undergraduate and graduate students, where a joint seminar was held with Professor Byeongwoo Kang.
During the seminar, Professor Kang delivered a lecture titled “Corporate Strategy with a Japanese Case Study.” Following the lecture, an active Q&A session and discussions took place with the participating students, providing a valuable opportunity for meaningful exchange on both sides.
The purpose of this visit was to foster international academic collaboration and deepen cross-cultural understanding. It provided an excellent platform for engaging intellectual exchange among all participants.
On Monday, June 23, 2025, the “AMJ Paper & Idea Development Workshop” was held at the Hitotsubashi Hall, with Hitotsubashi University serving as the host institution. Eight editors from the Academy of Management (AOM) traveled to Japan to participate, and a total of 60 researchers from both domestic and international institutions attended the event.
The details of the workshop are as follows. The opening remarks were delivered by Professor Yaichi Aoshima of the Hitotsubashi University Institute of Innovation Research, who also serves as the President of the Academic Association for Organizational Science.
Date: Monday, June 23, 2025, 9:30 AM – 3:00 PM
Venue: Hitotsubashi Hall (1st and 2nd Floor Meeting Rooms), Large Lecture Hall on the 1st Floor, Chiyoda Campus (National Center of Sciences Building, 2-1-2 Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)
Organizer: Academy of Management (AOM)
Co-organizers and Supporters: Institute of Innovation Research (IIR), Hitotsubashi University/Hitotsubashi ICS (Hitotsubashi University Business School, School of International Corporate Strategy) /Academic Association for Organizational Science
Program
9:00–9:30 Registration
9:30–10:30 Welcome Remarks: Yaichi Aoshima (Professor, Institute of Innovation Research, Hitotsubashi University)
Introduction: Publishing in AMJ, Marc Gruber (Editor-in-Chief, AMJ)
10:30–11:15 Q&A Session (Editors and Participants)
11:15–11:45 Break
11:45–12:30 Feedback Session 1
12:30–13:45 Lunch Break
13:45–14:30 Feedback Session 2
14:30–15:00 Closing Discussion (Editors and Participants)
AMJ Editors in attendance:
Marc Gruber (Editor in Chief)
Georg von Krogh (Deputy Editor)
Matthew Grimes (Associate Editor)
Floor Rink (Associate Editor)
Laura Little (Associate Editor)
Davide Ravasi (Associate Editor)
Tal Simons (Associate Editor)
Christian Troester (Associate Editor)
The purpose of the workshop was to provide early-career researchers with practical insights into academic writing and the submission process, offered directly by editors of the Academy of Management (AOM).
In the morning, following a keynote presentation by Marc Gruber, Editor-in-Chief of AMJ, participants engaged in a direct Q&A session with the editorial team. In the subsequent feedback sessions held in the morning and afternoon, participants were divided into eight groups, and each editor provided thoughtful and individualized feedback on the submitted manuscripts. These sessions facilitated active discussion and proved to be highly meaningful for the attendees.
Furthermore, the workshop served as a valuable opportunity to build academic networks that will support future research endeavors through interactions with editors and fellow participants.
Vol.73 No.1 SUM. 2025 (In Japanese)
A leading management journal in Japanese,
which builds a bridge between theory and practice.
EDITED BY
Hitotsubashi University, Institute of Innovation Research
PUBLISHED BY
Toyo Keizai Inc.
Evolution of Business Models : Strategic Thinking for the Future
Masatoshi Fujiwara
“Dynamism of Business Models”
Tatsuhiko Inoue / Masahiro Kondo / Takayuki Sakai
“What Makes a Strong Business Model?: An Empirical Research into the Recipe for Business Success”
Masahiro Kotosaka
“Revisiting “Business Model” from New Perspectives in Strategic Management Research”
Soichi Kariyazono / Yasuji Takahara / Kaori Nakamura / Akitoshi Yoshida
“Investors and Business Models”
Kensuke Yabe
“Why Do Financial Statements Matter for Understanding Business Models?”
●Introduction to Strategic Human Resource Management (7)
Tomoyuki Shimanuki
●Content Business Reflecting Society (3)
Fumihiko Ikuine
●Welcome to a Gourmet’s Guide to Business Cases (1)
Atsushi Tsumita
●Entrepreneurs Who Change the World (23)
Naoki Tsukahara
Interviewed by Yaichi Aoshima / Masatoshi Fujiwara
●Business Cases
Tatsuya Kubota / Yoshiki Kageyama / Go Shionoya
“NTT-West”
Hitomi Kishimoto / Ayumi Tsukaguchi / Takemasa Fujii / Takanori Morii / Takuya Yanase / Hiroaki Yoshida / Yaichi Aoshima
“Imabari Towel Industrial Association”
Ken Sakai / Shion Fujioka / Yuki Tsuboyama / Takahiro Endo
“Sakyu”
●Management Forum
Hisashi Taniguchi
(President & CEO of ROBO-HI Corporation)
Interviewed by Tatsuhiko Inoue / Masatoshi Fujiwara
