Anshuman Khare is a professor for Operations Management at Athabasca University, Canada. He joined Athabasca University in January 2000. He is an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow and has completed two post-doctoral terms at Johannes Gutenberg Universität in Mainz, Germany. He is also a former Monbusho Scholar, having completed his postdoctoral assignment at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan. He has published a number of books and research papers on a wide range of topics. His research focuses on environmental regulation impacts on industry, just-in-time manufacturing, supply chain management, sustainability, cities and climate change, online business education, etc. He is passionate about online business education. Anshuman serves as the editor of IAFOR Journal of Business and Management and associate editor of the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education published by Emerald and is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Applied Management and Technology.Hiroki Ishikura is a professor at the Faculty of Commerce in Osaka Gakuin University, Japan, and used to be an assistant professor in Kyoto University. He received a Doctor of Engineering degree from Kyoto Institute of Technology and graduated from Fukui University textile engineering department. His research interests lie in manufacturing systems. He is closely involved with academic societies such as the International Journal of the Japan Society for Production Management (editor in chief), International Journal of Standardization (editor in chief), International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management (UK) (editorial board member), the Society for Standardization Research (Vice Chairman), the Japan Society for Production Management (President), the Textile Machinery Society of Japan (Fellow), International and Domestic Technologies, Japan (Secretariat), and Textile Research Journal, USA (reviewer).William W. Baber has combined education with business throughout his career. His professional experience has included economic development in the State ofMaryland, language services in the Washington, DC, area, supporting business starters in Japan, and teaching business students in Japan, Europe, and Canada. Hetaught English in the Economics and Business Administration Departments of Ritsumeikan University, Japan, before joining the Graduate School of Management at Kyoto University, where he is an associate professor, in addition to holding courses at University of Vienna and University of Jyväskylä. His courses include Business Negotiation, Cross Cultural Management, and Management Communication. He is the lead author of the 2015 textbook Practical Business Negotiation and conducts research in the areas of business models, negotiation, and acculturation particularly in relation to Japan. He completed hisPhD on intercultural adjustment of expatriate workers in Japan in 2016 at the University of Jyväsklä, Finland. Earlier in 2004, he earned a Master of Education from University of Maryland in Instructional Systems Design.

• I The Societal and Economic Outlook.- 1 Why Japan's digital transformation is inevitable (Anshuman Khare, Kriti Khare and William W. Baber).- 2 Rating Japan’s Readiness for an Evolving Digital Economy (Jerry Platt).- 3 Digital Transformation Execution in Japan (Kieran Gane).- 4 Digital Transformation challenges in the Japanese Financial Sector: A practitioner’s perspective (Raja Karim).- 5 The Japanese B2C Retail Industry in the Digital Age (Philippe Huysveld).- 6 Does the Japanese Work Ethic Conflict with the needs of Retail in the Digital Era? (Hiroki Ishikura and Anshuman Khare).- II Innovations in Businesses.- 7 Business Model Innovation: A Japanese SME driven to full digitalization by corporate philosophy (William W. Baber, Makoto Sarata and Muga Tsukamoto).- 8 A Study of a Three-part Entrepreneurial Strategy in an MRO e-Procurement Platform in Japan (Yutaka Mizuno and Nobutaka Odake).- 9 The Beginnings of Automated Loan Decisioning During Japan’s Lost Decades ? The Case of Gate Finance (James Howard).- 10 Innovation of Small and Medium-sized Manufacturers in the Digital Age (Nobutaka Odake).- 11 Digitalization and evolution of business model pathways among Japanese software SMEs (William W. Baber, Arto Ojala and Ricardo Martinez).- 12 Digital Disruption in Japanese Market Research: Disrupters and a Startup Connecting Incumbents with New Technology (Genjiro Kosaka).- 13 Recovery from Significant Adversity: How Japanese Retailers Deal with Digital Disruption (Katrin Horn and Sierk Horn).- 14 Foreign investors’ acceptance and usage of PropTech in the Japanese real estate market (Daniel J. Mills and David Gotsill).- III The Future.- 15 Artificial Intelligence in Japan: Policy, prospects and obstacles in the automotive industry (Faith Hatani).- 16 The Evolution and Strategic Operations Perspective on 3D Printing ? The Global and Japanese Experience (Abubaker Haddud, Anshuman Khare and Hiroki Ishikura).- 17 The future of Fintech in the context of the Japanese main bank system (Kanji Kitamura).- Index.

Anshuman Khare is a professor for Operations Management at Athabasca University, Canada. He joined Athabasca University in January 2000. He is an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow and has completed two post-doctoral terms at Johannes Gutenberg Universität in Mainz, Germany. He is also a former Monbusho Scholar, having completed his postdoctoral assignment at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan. He has published a number of books and research papers on a wide range of topics. His research focuses on environmental regulation impacts on industry, just-in-time manufacturing, supply chain management, sustainability, cities and climate change, online business education, etc. He is passionate about online business education. Anshuman serves as the editor of IAFOR Journal of Business and Management and associate editor of the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education published by Emerald and is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Applied Management and Technology.Hiroki Ishikura is a professor at the Faculty of Commerce in Osaka Gakuin University, Japan, and used to be an assistant professor in Kyoto University. He received a Doctor of Engineering degree from Kyoto Institute of Technology and graduated from Fukui University textile engineering department. His research interests lie in manufacturing systems. He is closely involved with academic societies such as the International Journal of the Japan Society for Production Management (editor in chief), International Journal of Standardization (editor in chief), International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management (UK) (editorial board member), the Society for Standardization Research (Vice Chairman), the Japan Society for Production Management (President), the Textile Machinery Society of Japan (Fellow), International and Domestic Technologies, Japan (Secretariat), and Textile Research Journal, USA (reviewer).William W. Baber has combined education with business throughout his career. His professional experience has included economic development in the State ofMaryland, language services in the Washington, DC, area, supporting business starters in Japan, and teaching business students in Japan, Europe, and Canada. Hetaught English in the Economics and Business Administration Departments of Ritsumeikan University, Japan, before joining the Graduate School of Management at Kyoto University, where he is an associate professor, in addition to holding courses at University of Vienna and University of Jyväskylä. His courses include Business Negotiation, Cross Cultural Management, and Management Communication. He is the lead author of the 2015 textbook Practical Business Negotiation and conducts research in the areas of business models, negotiation, and acculturation particularly in relation to Japan. He completed hisPhD on intercultural adjustment of expatriate workers in Japan in 2016 at the University of Jyväsklä, Finland. Earlier in 2004, he earned a Master of Education from University of Maryland in Instructional Systems Design.

• I The Societal and Economic Outlook.- 1 Why Japan's digital transformation is inevitable (Anshuman Khare, Kriti Khare and William W. Baber).- 2 Rating Japan’s Readiness for an Evolving Digital Economy (Jerry Platt).- 3 Digital Transformation Execution in Japan (Kieran Gane).- 4 Digital Transformation challenges in the Japanese Financial Sector: A practitioner’s perspective (Raja Karim).- 5 The Japanese B2C Retail Industry in the Digital Age (Philippe Huysveld).- 6 Does the Japanese Work Ethic Conflict with the needs of Retail in the Digital Era? (Hiroki Ishikura and Anshuman Khare).- II Innovations in Businesses.- 7 Business Model Innovation: A Japanese SME driven to full digitalization by corporate philosophy (William W. Baber, Makoto Sarata and Muga Tsukamoto).- 8 A Study of a Three-part Entrepreneurial Strategy in an MRO e-Procurement Platform in Japan (Yutaka Mizuno and Nobutaka Odake).- 9 The Beginnings of Automated Loan Decisioning During Japan’s Lost Decades ? The Case of Gate Finance (James Howard).- 10 Innovation of Small and Medium-sized Manufacturers in the Digital Age (Nobutaka Odake).- 11 Digitalization and evolution of business model pathways among Japanese software SMEs (William W. Baber, Arto Ojala and Ricardo Martinez).- 12 Digital Disruption in Japanese Market Research: Disrupters and a Startup Connecting Incumbents with New Technology (Genjiro Kosaka).- 13 Recovery from Significant Adversity: How Japanese Retailers Deal with Digital Disruption (Katrin Horn and Sierk Horn).- 14 Foreign investors’ acceptance and usage of PropTech in the Japanese real estate market (Daniel J. Mills and David Gotsill).- III The Future.- 15 Artificial Intelligence in Japan: Policy, prospects and obstacles in the automotive industry (Faith Hatani).- 16 The Evolution and Strategic Operations Perspective on 3D Printing ? The Global and Japanese Experience (Abubaker Haddud, Anshuman Khare and Hiroki Ishikura).- 17 The future of Fintech in the context of the Japanese main bank system (Kanji Kitamura).- Index.