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Today, Japanese housing manufacturers compete to produce net zero-energy-cost houses that are usually equipped with some renewable energy technologies-e.g. a solar photovoltaic electric power generating system, a CO2 refrigerant heat-pump water heater and a combined heat and power system. Interestingly, the manufacturers tend to install these costly renewable technologies as standard equipment rather than options. To initiate and maintenance the sales of their environmentally-friendly houses, the manufacturers bring into effect their quality-oriented production and user-oriented communication approaches. The manufacturers' way to commercialise their industrialised housing to some extent reflects their high cost-performance marketing strategy. This paper somewhat reflects the learning outcomes of the Zero-carbon PV Mass Custom Home Technical Mission to Japan that the first author organised in 2006 and 2007. It is aimed at identifying the manufacturers' essential commercialisation strategies being applied for the niche-marketing of their net zero-energy-cost housing.

Recent research in manufacturing has investigated the impact of enabling operations management (OM) practices on quality and time‐based performance separately. This research investigates the concurrent impact of supply management, human resources, just‐in‐time (JIT) and cross‐functional practices on quality and time‐based performance, in a sample of firms from the automotive components industry. Relationships of 13 individual OM practices with three objective measures of quality performance and two objective measures of time‐based performance were analysed using simple and stepwise multiple regressions. Results indicate that seven of these practices, namely incoming material quality, kanban systems, set‐up time reduction, performance‐based pay and quality training to workers, cross‐functional interactions between design and quality assurance and between production and new product development, have significant synergistic relationships to both quality and time‐based performance. The research supports the argument that there is synergy between quality and time‐based performance capabilities.

This study examines the reasons behind managerial resistance to change, particularly in instances where innovative work practices have been imposed. An increased need for firms to develop flexible production systems, become quality oriented and manufacture more quickly has resulted in work re-organization. This shift from Fordism to a form of mass customization has involved not only technological and organizational changes in the workplace, but has also restructured much of managerial work. Instead of a pre-occupation with operational efficiency, managers are now required to coordinate activities designed to promote a more effective use of human resources. Drawing evidence from case studies, we describe the responses by managers to these changes in an industry undergoing intense competitive pressure. Initial implementation of new practices is often followed by modification to those practices that protect managerial interests. It becomes apparent that what is rational for the firm often might be irrational for managers, hence the reason why many changes are resisted by managers. We conclude with a discussion of ambiguous evaluation procedures that further compound managerial uncertainty as unprecedented economic volatility continues to plague firms in this industry.

The paper aims to analyse the current situation and the perspectives of Italian wine in key Asian export markets – China, Japan, India, Singapore and South Korea. These countries show the highest growing rates in wine consumption and are forecasted to become increasingly more strategic for Italian wine producers.

A SWOT analysis is applied to the most recent set of secondary data available from the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), the Italian National Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE), the International Organisation of Wine and Vine (OIV) and Euromonitor International reports.

The study reveals that the most interesting markets for Italian wines are China and South Korea. The key strengths are mainly related to high quality products, evoking classic values and being perceived as a status symbol, while the main concerns for Italian wines are mainly related to promotion and distribution issues.

The SWOT analysis can be used to develop a strategy that takes into consideration the potential strengths and opportunities and the impact of weaknesses and threats, but it cannot cover all the possible aspects Italian wineries must know about Asian markets. It offers a base for further and deeper thoughts about the how to succeed in the most dynamic and challenging markets of the next 20 years.

Differently from other studies, which tend to analyse Italian perspectives in Asian markets on a country‐by‐country basis, this work represents the most recent and comprehensive research on Italian wines in Asian markets.

This chapter presents an overview of the ‘big’ data of Mediterranean agriculture, with a special focus on the four EU countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece), in order to provide a backdrop for the rest of cases analysed in the volume. In this regard, two thesis are discussed: the assumption that farming systems in the South have not followed the process of ‘productivist modernisation’ characterising post-war Northern European agricultural change, and that, precisely due to this reason, most holdings and regions from the South would have more possibilities to adapt to new approaches of multifunctional rural development.Thus, the chapter tackles both the static and dynamic structural traits of Southern agricultures and their differences with the North, as well as several aspects of the organisation of farming in the Mediterranean and other key components of productivist modernisation: farm intensification and specialisation. Later, the diffusion of multifunctional dynamics is addressed, in order to introduce some reflections about their meaning and scope in the Mediterranean regions. The chapter ends with a straightforward typology of Southern farming systems and a concluding section, which goes back to discuss the two initial theses.

The Japanese prefabrication industry not only has automated its processes to a high extent, but it also innovates due to the fact that it delivers buildings of outstanding quality accompanied by a multitude of services. In order to explore and specify the concepts and parameters that have driven this industry, Japan's prefabrication industry, its cultural, economic and technological surrounding, as well as the applied processes, technologies and economic strategies, have to be illustrated and analysed. The purpose of this paper is to identify, describe and analyse these concepts and their related parameters, as well as to recognise the most influential drivers for the future that provide an indication into which direction the industry could evolve.

Being aware that literature does not provide relevant information and data, which would allow the authors to explore concepts and parameters explaining the success of the Japanese prefabrication industry, the authors performed field surveys, visited factories, R&D centres and sales points of all major Japanese prefabrication companies. In some cases the authors also interviewed general managers, researchers and developers, and academicians at Japanese universities. Based on an extensive literature review in the area of product development, production technology, modularisation, mass customisation, and innovation, the authors qualitatively and quantitatively analysed all major prefabrication companies according to a fixed scheme.

The concepts and parameters identified and analysed in this paper demonstrate that the Japanese prefabrication industry, which is leading in large‐scale industrialization, nowadays focuses towards services that are related to the building's utilisation phase, rather than delivering products. By involving customers it enhances the companies' customer relations, thus creating competitive advantages.

Overall the paper identifies that Japanese prefabrication industry acts rather like a “production industry” than a “construction industry”. Similar to many other high‐tech industries, Japan's prefabrication industry incorporates the latest product and process technologies and combines automation, products and services into complex value‐capturing systems.

A recent study by Reimers et al. (2016) suggests that the attitude-behaviour gap, as it applies to ethical clothing, may be due to academics having defined it differently to the way that consumers do. The purpose of this paper is to serve as a direct follow-up to that study by employing their consumer-based definition in order to help identify the clothing attributes that influence the purchase of ethical clothing.

A consumer household sample in combination with a quantitative survey approach was used to collect the data, while structural equation modelling was used to analyse it.

In spite of the ethical clothing context, only two of the four ethical clothing dimensions were found to influence consumer attitudes. In contrast, all three conventional dimensions were found to be significant.

Ethical clothing has typically been operationalised using just two of these four dimensions. Ironically, one of the two dimensions often overlooked by academics, slow fashion, had one of the strongest influences on consumer attitudes. In addition, the cost of buying ethical clothing has often been defined in unidimensional terms; typically price. This study adopted a broader conceptualisation, defining it in terms of price, time and effort, and found it to serve as a salient influence over consumers’ attitudes to ethical clothing.

This paper bridges the gap between theory and practice in the application of the Income Stabilisation Tool (IST). With an application to the dairy sector, the purpose of this paper is to propose methodology for the quantification of reference income when farm structural change occurs and estimate the role of farm attributes on the probability of income loss, offering an ex ante evaluation of farm resilience to risk.

Based on a balanced Farm Accountancy Network farm-level panel ranging from 2008 to 2014, three hypotheses of reference income calculation are tested to assess whether farms structural changes over the years significantly affect the level of IST indemnification. The role of farm characteristics on the probability of an income reduction is then evaluated by estimating a multinomial logit model.

Results show that farms’ structural changes significantly affect IST indemnities and need to be considered in calculating the reference income. The estimated model suggests that farm characteristics significantly affect the probability of a severe income drop and hence risk resilience. Extensive livestock systems seem to reduce the probability of an income drop, while farms in upland areas managed by young farmers seem to experience increased risk exposure.

The research provides one of the first attempts to define risk profile of dairy farms by modelling the probability of an income reduction on observable attributes. Indeed, among different sectors, dairy farms emerge as the main candidates for the application of the IST.

In response to growing global warming issues and the constant increase of energy prices, housebuilders and housing manufacturers today are becoming more responsive to the delivery of net zero energy and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission sustainable homes than ever. Within this context, the sustainability may embrace housing economy and adequacy beyond the legitimacy in which the quality barely coincides with individuals' dynamic various needs, desires and expectations. Nevertheless, the industry's business operation tends to follow routines and the close system mode of operation often hinders the enterprises from adopting unfamiliar innovations which may be inevitable in realising the delivery and operation of socially, economically and environmentally sustainable homes.

Many organisations are under pressure to diversify products, respond more aggressively to competitors, and reduce inventories. Businesses which operate along traditional, formal lines often cannot adapt sufficiently quickly to these new demands. To be more responsive, people in different functions need to be more collaborative and less insular towards one another. This article, the first of a two part series, describes techniques which can build understanding and active co‐operation between departments and hierarchical levels. The techniques are categorised into six levels: (1) awareness of one another′s perceived pressures and bottlenecks; (2) appreciating how different personal strengths can be complementary; (3) designing procedures for decision making and information flow; (4) setting up temporary teams to tackle company‐wide improvement areas; (5) identifying roles and responsibilities; and (6) changing the formal structure. These techniques are analysed in terms of the usual time‐scale of implementation and of the potential risk of “getting it wrong”.