Fumitoshi Mizutani is a professor at the Graduate School of Business Administration, Kobe University, where he has worked since obtaining a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1993. Currently he is serving as president of the Japan Society of Public Utility Economics and the Japan Society of Transport Economics. His main research has focused on the economic analysis of regulatory changes in public utility industries. He has also been involved in international research projects such as with the World Bank, and he has published in books and international journals such as Journal of Regulatory Economics, Empirical Economics, andReview of Network Economics. He has been awarded academic prizes.

Takuya Urakami is a professor at the Faculty of Business Administration, Kindai University. His interest is in productivity, efficiency and performance analysis, especially of the water and sewerage industry. He currently serves on council committees forthe Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism as well as various municipal governments. He is now a research representative for Kindai University, cooperating with the Centre for Productivity and Performance of Loughborough University, UK. He has published in international journals such asEuropean Journal of Operational Research,Urban Studies,andPapers in Regional Science.

Eri Nakamura has been an associate professor at the Graduate School of Business Administration, Kobe University, since 2014. After obtaining her Ph.D. from Kobe University in 2011, she worked as a lecturer at Shinshu University until 2013. She was a visiting researcher at Vienna University of Economics and Business from 2016 to 2018. She has been engaged in research on efficiency, organizational management, governance and corporate social responsibility in public utilities as well as general private companies. She has published in international journals such asUtilities Policy, Journal of Business and Industrial Economics,andJournal of Management and Governance.