He holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Aichi Institute of Technology, Japan, an M.S. in operations research, an M.A. in statistics, a professional degree in industrial engineering and a doctorate in management systems, all from Columbia University. His research interests are comparative evaluation of manafacturing practices between Japanese and U.S. firms in topics related to JIT, quality management, manufacturing strategy and technology. Professor Sakakibara has previously published articles in Journal of Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, Business Horizons, and other journals. His research has been funded by the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission and the National Science Foundation.