Published papers

In the present paper, WCA (Wants Chain Analysis) is proposed by extending CVCA (Customer Value Chain Analysis). CVCA is a method for visualizing relationship among stakeholders for analyzing existing social systems and designing new social systems. WCA is a method for visualizing wants and needs of stakeholders in CVCA utilizing Maslow's hierarchy of needs. In WCA it is shown that people's wants or needs are finally realized through the looped and linear chain of relationship among stakeholders. With various examples, effectiveness of WCA is shown by describing that characteristics of business/social systems structure can be clearly visualized using WCA. It is described that WCA is useful for analyzing social systems. "Think of others" should be more and more important for humans' satisfaction and happiness in the near future. WCA can be a tool for clarifying what is for others.

The mission of business enterprises is to use their resources to create new values. It is believed that the learning from implementation through a cyclical process that continually explores the needs of customers is effective in terms of spending less resources under the unreliable conditions, which businesses operate. However, the sequence of implementation and adaption or turnabout (pivot) through the feedback of customers is only a process of trial and error and focusses strongly on linear thinking. The purpose of this study is to propose and validate the use of a systems-based methodology for creating a business model that includes a more effective learning cycle. For this, the well-proven systems-based Evolutionary Learning Laboratory is utilised and proposed as a methodology for creating a business model. The systems thinking based learning cycle has been found to be the most useful in creating a new systems-based business model. It was possible to identify the seed ideas for creating the concepts of a new business model. A systemic view and structure of the issue under consideration assisted the entrepreneurs to develop a shared understanding of the mental models of the multistakeholders, including the target customers. The systems model (integration of the mental models) serves as a 'thinking map' in the continuous learning cycle. The business ideas and strategies are identified through exploring the relationships between the different components of the model. This is followed by their validation and verification through implementation and reflection on the outcomes. The results of applying this methodology created a new business model that is based on the backgrounds and knowledge of customers and all other relevant stakeholders. The methodology does not only allow entrepreneurs to make decisions systemically but also enable them to trace the effects of the decisions after they have been implemented and to adapt where necessary in an ongoing cycle of refinement (continuous improvement). The effectiveness of the methodology in dealing with complex issues (such as developing a new business) has shown positive outcomes during an evaluation workshop. The methodology can contribute significantly to the tools that entrepreneurs are currently using.

In January 2011, a new standard ISO/IEC 29110 was published. To evaluate effectiveness of the assessment using ISO/IEC 29110, we have performed a series of lightweight assessment. The lightweight assessment method taken in this trial was using the task checklist based on ISO/IEC 29110-5 with the customized procedures based on ISO/IEC 15504-2. Through the trial, we found that the lightweight assessment required little effort to the project. Moreover, we found that the lightweight assessment was an acceptable way for the project to extract issues and risks in the project and urge awareness. Regarding the one aforementioned, the lightweight assessment using ISO/IEC 29110 has two benefits. Firstly, it is useful for the readiness checking of forthcoming tasks and workproducts. Secondly, the lightweight assessment are performed iteratively and repeatedly performed several times with little effort. As mentioned earlier, lightweight assessment should be performed not for the evaluation but as a daily routine tool to obtain the actual status and performance of management and to identify the problems. In this way, the ISO/IEC 29110 lightweight assessment is useful.

Recent developments in service science and social design have resulted in new policy design methodologies. On the service science side, the concept of co-creation has appeared. On the social design side, methodologies of participatory systems analysis have emerged. Based on these developments, this paper proposes a participatory systems analysis model for public policy design (PSP), a new methodology that employs Bayesian network modelling. We select Fukushima, one of the northeastern areas of Japan most devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11th March 2011, to verify and validate the empirical efficacy of this methodology. The results show that it fosters both creativity and a sense of collaborative ownership of policy design, which are the core values for a better community.