Doctor of Business Administration
(Kobe University)

Title

Professor of Business Economics

Abstract of Research and Education

She studies the management of public utilities with large networks as their infrastructure, such as railways, air and marine transport, water supply and sanitation, energy supply and postal services. Currently, she has two main interests:
(1) quantitative analyses on efficiency measurement using production/cost function, governance effects of public/private ownership or PPP (Public Private Partnership) on performance, and efficiency comparison between public utilities and general private firms,
(2) qualitative analysis on international comparison of coordination mechanisms between unbundled business units under vertical separation policies.

For the undergraduate programme, she offers ‘Public Utilities Management’, a course which aims to promote an understanding of various issues in public utilities not only from an economic perspective (e.g. basics of regulatory economics, new institutional economics including transaction cost theory and agency theory) but also from a business perspective (e.g. organisational design theory).

For the PhD programme, she offers ‘Microeconomics’, which includes the foundations of microeconomics at the doctoral level as one of the core courses of the programme.

Details of Research Achievement