PhD Title

Human resource management issues in logistics sector in Japan

Supervisors

Dr. Sierk Horn and Professor Christopher Dent

Research Study

Outline

1. Geography – Japan (East Asia)
2. Subject – Business, Management
3. Industry/Area – Logistics, Supply chains
4. Research areas – Human resource/capital management; Impact through social movements/needs (e.g. internationalisation, globalisation); History and Trends
   

Description

Logistics sector in Japan has been generally suffering especially in the past 25 years or so. For instance,

1. Plaza Agreement (1985) was one of the most significant triggers that strengthened Japanese Yen;
2. Road transportation Laws (1949, 1951) and series of deregulation activities and enforcements (1989, 2002, and 2010) have driven logistics sector over-competitive;
3. Social movements such as internationalisation and/or globalisation; and most importantly,
4. Long-term insufficiency of human capital/force.
   

Professionals in logistics sector in Japan have been under tremendous amount of pressures everyday in order to achieve business objectives. To name a few: dealing with multiple/parallel tasks, just-in-time delivery services (or penalty if delayed), safety awareness (e.g. delivering dangerous goods), environmental issues (e.g. CSR), training sessions in occasional basis, or service availability (7days/24hours/365days).

As such, it has been suggested over time that logistics sector in Japan is “3K sector” – Kitsui (work environment under significant pressure & physical work tasks), Kitanai (dirty), and Kiken (dangerous).

Aims

Research aims at understanding overall structure and mechanism on human resource/capital issues in logistics sector in Japan, and focusing on how recent social movements (e.g. internationalisation) have been affecting human resource/capital issues over time.

Hopefully, this research might at least become one of paths for the issues in the past. The research might not only contribute to “body of knowledge” but also suggest and enhance networking - interactions amongst logistics professionals in both Japan and the world for the better, sustainable, environment/people friendly, global supply chains.

Background

Education

BS, Music Composition, Bates College (Maine, USA) 1997; MSc, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Cranfield University (Cranfield, UK), 2008.

Working Experience

+10 years in Japan (mainly) & USA; sizes from small venture firm to enterprise (TNT); consulting, advising, research; retail-bookselling, document/translation & logistics; part-time/full-time.

Memberships-Logistics

UK – CIPS, CILT*; US - SOLE*, CSCMP*; JP - Japan Logistics Society.

Membership-Food

Japan Society of Foodservice Studies.

Membership-Misc

Publications

• "Management & Logistics" 3 articles in 2008 (Japanese)
• "Supply Chain Asia" 1 article in March/April 2009 (English).

Conference/Paper Presentation

"Human Capital Development as a Prerequisite for Logistics Transformation", 43rd Annual International Logistics Conference and Exhibition 2008, 20 August 2008, Orlando, Florida, USA.

Email: mlke@leeds.ac.uk