Human homogamy may be caused in part by individuals’ preference for phenotypic similarities. Two types of preference can result in homogamy: individuals may prefer someone who is similar to themselves (self-referent phenotype matching) or to their parents (a sexual-imprinting-like mechanism). In order to examine these possibilities, we compare faces of couples and their family members in two ways. First, “perceived” similarity between a pair of faces is quantified as similarity ratings given to the pair. Second, “physical” similarity between two groups (...) of faces is evaluated on the basis of correlations in principal component scores generated from facial measurements. Our results demonstrate a tendency to homogamy in facial characteristics and suggest that the tendency is due primarily to self-referent phenotype matching. Nevertheless, the presence of a sexual-imprinting-like effect is also partially indicated: whether individuals are involved in facial homogamy may be affected by their relationship with their parents during childhood. (shrink)

Despite a relatively healthy financial sector, the Japanese economy contracted 6.3% in 2009 during the global financial crisis (GFC) after the Lehman shock, the starkest drop among the OECD countries. Since then, the Japanese economy has been slow to recover, although the Japanese government has implemented multiple economic stimulus packages with a high aggregate value.

While I agree with the distinction between expedient and proper ways of action, I find Jagiello et al.'s account of “stance switching” debatable. Fundamental to theories of cultural evolution is the fact that the shared environment is indefinitely rich, in which individuals are provided with opportunities for learning to tune themselves to specific affordances that are relevant to emerging situations.

In his attempt to find cognitive traits that set humans apart from nonhuman primates with respect to tool use, Vaesen overlooks the primacy of the environment toward the use of which behavior evolves. The occurrence of a particular behavior is a result of how that behavior has evolved in a complex and changing environment selected by a unique population.

BackgroundThe objective of this study was to describe, through measurement of physical activity and observation of free outdoor play, the relation between children’s free play and the spatial layout of the playground. To accomplish this, we altered the spatial layout of the same playground to see how the layout affects the play activity and the physical activity levels in the same children.MethodsParticipants were six young children. Participants’ physical activity level and the duration of different types of action that occurred in (...) each area and their transitions were compared before and after the alteration of the play-equipment layout using the data from accelerometers and video recordings.ResultsA significant increase in physical activity occurred after the spatial layout alteration, which was related to action differences. Before the alteration, children tended to play in a similar manner for a given play area; however, after the alteration, pronounced interindividual variation in play activity across children was observed.ConclusionThe present pilot study found that in free play situations in the outdoor playground, the spatial layout of playground affects the pattern of play activity and the physical activity levels of young children. (shrink)

Over the last two decades, the Japanese notion of ba, introduced by Ikujiro Nonaka and his associates to the West, has come to play an important role in management theory. This notion, which has been roughly translated as ‘place’ or ‘topos,’ stresses the importance of processual spatial thinking for economics and management alike. As such, it echoes and amplifies recent voices in the business world, which argue that we must understand business strategy in terms of space, that is to (...) say, as an expression of the dynamics of social interaction which involves such factors as connectivity, information flow, external versus tacit knowledge, etc. Despite many efforts, the barriers for fully integrating ba into the body of Western management literature will remain for as long as its underlying assumptions are defined by ontologically static categories. This article is an attempt to overcome this theoretical bottleneck, first by critiquing the sub optimal approach to processual problems generated by conventional Western business theories, which can neither recognise their hidden background assumptions about space nor transcend them, and second, by explaining, within the framework of comparative analysis, how ba leads to a new processual and dynamic account of business life. Our overall aim is to demonstrate how a new processual notion of space enables a deeper, more integrated understanding not only of the nature of the firm, but also of the role managers play within firms. (shrink)

Over the last two decades, the Japanese notion of ba, introduced by Ikujiro Nonaka and his associates to the West, has come to play an important role in management theory. This notion, which has been roughly translated as ‘place’ or ‘topos,’ stresses the importance of processual spatial thinking for economics and management alike. As such, it echoes and amplifies recent voices in the business world, which argue that we must understand business strategy in terms of space, that is to (...) say, as an expression of the dynamics of social interaction which involves such factors as connectivity, information flow, external versus tacit knowledge, etc. Despite many efforts, the barriers for fully integrating ba into the body of Western management literature will remain for as long as its underlying assumptions are defined by ontologically static categories. This article is an attempt to overcome this theoretical bottleneck, first by critiquing the sub optimal approach to processual problems generated by conventional Western business theories, which can neither recognise their hidden background assumptions about space nor transcend them, and second, by explaining, within the framework of comparative analysis, how ba leads to a new processual and dynamic account of business life. Our overall aim is to demonstrate how a new processual notion of space enables a deeper, more integrated understanding not only of the nature of the firm, but also of the role managers play within firms. (shrink)

(2014). Introduction to the Special Issue on Strategy, Story, and Emergence: Essays on Scenario Planning. World Futures: Vol. 70, Strategy, Story, and Emergence: Essays on Scenario Planning, pp. 2-4.

(2014). The Mind of the Scenario Thinker. World Futures: Vol. 70, Strategy, Story, and Emergence: Essays on Scenario Planning, pp. 44-51.

(2014). Virtue-Based Management. World Futures: Vol. 70, Strategy, Story, and Emergence: Essays on Scenario Planning, pp. 19-27.

(2014). Toward Narrative Strategy. World Futures: Vol. 70, Strategy, Story, and Emergence: Essays on Scenario Planning, pp. 5-18.

Ikujiro Nonaka, whose formative experience is Japanese, is an established scholar who has written about large business organizations. He sees knowledge at the heart of the organization and its products and aims to develop Michael Polanyi’s conception of tacit knowledge in a practical direction to enhance organizational “knowledge creation.” For Nonaka, what matters is the practice, the doing, the embodiment of knowledge. An organization can amplify and crystallize individuals’ tacit knowledge in a process that allows them to experience (...) deeper understanding. Nonaka holds that it is iimportant to explore the potential that knowledge holds. His spiral process describes disciplined practices that make tacit knowledge independent and available to restructure the organizational knowledge context. (shrink)

As knowledge creation quickly gains importance for globally active corporations, we attempt to combine the advantages of the Stakeholder View with those of the SECI model by Nonaka and Takeuchi. In order to support the mental processes of the stakeholders, we use so-called topic maps to transform implicit into explicit knowledge and to visualize it. The preliminary propositions are illustrated by the case study of Swiss Re.

A finales de la década de los ‘80, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. largó a la venta la primera máquina panificadora de uso doméstico. Su lanzamiento gozó de tal éxito, que sociólogos del conocimiento se abocaron a analizar el conocimiento involucrado en su diseño y producción. Para ello, Takeuchi y Nonaka (1995) analizaron detalladamente la noción de conocimiento tácito (POLANYI, 1966/2009). Defendieron que los ingenieros y desarrolladores lograron explicitar y traducir el conocimiento tácito presente en el ejercicio habilidoso del (...) maestro panadero al diseño de la máquina de hacer pan, reproduciendo el mismo resultado práctico. En el presente trabajo, discutiré su interpretación de la noción de conocimiento tácito y defenderé que el conocimiento tácito involucrado en el ejercicio de habilidades prácticas no puede explicitarse y traducirse en el diseño de la máquina de hacer pan sin perder, al menos, una parte sustancial de dichas habilidades. Para ello, me valdré de aportes de la sociología de la ciencia y de la fenomenología para argumentar que el conocimiento tácito involucrado en el ejercicio habilidoso de nuestro maestro panadero depende de una relación de familiaridad con el entorno. Dicha relación es epistémicamente relevante en la medida en que involucra representaciones aspectuales de nuestro entorno, las cuales permiten guiar la acción de nuestro maestro panadero. A diferencia, la máquina de hacer pan no posee tales representaciones y, en consecuencia, no puede implicar, al menos, el mismo tipo de conocimiento tácito como guía de su comportamiento. (shrink)