We all are users of technology and services, but the way we use them strongly depends on who our 'interlocutor' is: a machine, a software application or a person. The contributions of this volume look at the concept of the user from various perspectives and continue to discuss the theme started in volume three on the user of the artificial.

The rise of Japan as an economic superpower is a remarkable episode in the history of the modern world. This book seeks to explain this phenomenal success by looking at the issues of culture and technology, and making comparison with the experience of the USA, the UK, and Europe as a whole. The relationship between culture and technology lies at the heart of the undoubted market success of Japan, and the development of high technology and the much-lauded "cultural" attributes of Japan have contributed powerfully to national success. These vital issues are examined in detail and include, for example, the relationship between company "culture" and "structure", and the overriding impact of Japanese "national" culture. National cultures in Japan and the West are compared with the consequent effect on entrepreneurial and technological progress.

We all are users of technology and services, but the way we use them strongly depends on who our 'interlocutor' is: a machine, a software application or a person. The contributions of this volume look at the concept of the user from various perspectives and continue to discuss the theme started in volume three on the user of the artificial.