In this session of the Shorenstein APARC Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows Research Presentations, the following will be presented:

Jaigeun Lim, Seoul Metropolitan Government, "A Study on the Influential Factors on Inbound Foreign Direct Investment and its Implications"

The global importance of Inbound Foreign Direct Investment (IFDI) continues to grow and each nation has made an effort to enhance its national competitiveness through IFDI.  Lim’s research targets 51 nations and 14  candidate variables to learn which factors have an influence on IFDI.

Statistically meaningful variables on IFDI include GDP, economic growth rate, dependency to trade, management of cities, small and medium-sized enterprises’ efficiency and investment incentive policy.  Particularly, the results from Outbound Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI)-oriented nations give evidence that influences of GDP, small and medium-sized enterprises’ efficiency and investment incentive policy are positive to IFDI.  However, Korea shows the lower level of performances in small and medium-sized enterprises’ efficiency and investment incentive policy.  Korea has also shown the lower performances in similar variables compared with other Asia-Pacific nations.  Lim’s research aims to find out what these results mean in terms of policy for Korea?

Ryuichi Ohta, Japan Patent Office, "Relationship Between Technical Standard and Patents"

Samsung and Apple have more than 50 cases of appeals to the courts against each other in more than 10 countries.  In these court battles, Samsung asserted injunction using essential patent which is related to telecommunication standards and committed RAND (Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory) commitment.  Injunction is one of the basic rights for patent, which means Samsung can assert this right.  However in this case, can Samsung assert injunction in spite of RAND commitment?  In normal circumstances, standard organizations require RAND licensing obligations for essential patents.  Ohta will address the question "Why do they require it and why do they consider these obligations are reasonable for essential patents?" through case studies.

Rajeev Prasad, Reliance Life Sciences, "Concept of Total Quality Management in Pharmaceutical Industries"

The pharmaceutical industry is profoundly regulated and the reasons are obvious;  the use of ineffective, poor quality, harmful medicines can result in therapeutic failure, exacerbation of disease, and resistance of medicines and sometimes death of the patients.  Also, the mistakes in product design or production can have severe, even fatal, consequences for patients which sometimes lead to recall of drugs from the market.  Total Quality Management (TQM) acts as an umbrella under which everyone in the organization can strive for customer satisfaction by producing better quality of product, reduce cost and wastage and increase the efficiency of services.  In his research, Rajeev has focused on the failures of TQM principles by evaluating the warning letters, case studies of pharmaceutical manufacturers and product recalls and also outlined about the implementation of robust quality management system by amalgamation of principles of TQM and pharmaceutical regulatory guidelines.

In this session of the Shorenstein APARC Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows Research Presentations, the following will be presented:

Zhao Han, PetroChina, "The Development of American Oil Retail – Analysis of the Competitive Strategy in China"

The first gas stations were built in the early 1900s.  Having experienced rapid growth, brand integration, rising costs, model innovation and trans-boundary competition in developed countries like the United States, the gas station industry matured towards the end of the 20th century.  Around the year 2000, international oil companies gradually began to withdraw from the gas station market in developed countries.  During this time, convenience stores became the leader of the market with gasoline being one of the products of the convenience store.

With the development of mobile internet technology and the practice of the big data theory, the information authority has been broken.  The business model of traditional industries, such as the gas station industry, will change as well.  Gas stations will transform from the traditional E-station to E-platform.  In his research, Han argues that the business model of gas stations will turn from merchandise sales to customer service, and then to resource integration and platform management.

Yasunori Matsui, Mitsubishi Corporation, "How to Develop Effective Leadership Skills:  A Study Comparing Silicon Valley Companies"

In most Japanese companies, leadership skills are lacking.  From his experience, Matsui believes this problem exists at a higher level than the organization, as leadership skills are only developed for select people within the organization.  Additionally, he believes there is a high correlation between leadership effectiveness and the results that leaders produce.  Developing an adequate cadre of leaders to perpetuate their organization is essential to Japanese companies.  Unfortunately, the concept of leadership continues to be shrouded in misunderstanding.  In his research, Matsui compares leadership styles in Silicon Valley to those of Japanese companies.  Matsui asks the question as to whether leadership personnel training is possible in Japanese companies and discusses some possible solutions to this problem.

Ryo Wakabayashi, Sumitomo Corporation, "Trends of the American Entertainment Video Industry"

Wakabayashi’s research discusses the entertainment video industry trends in the United States, in particular, the influence of emerging Over-the-Top (OTT) markets in existing entertainment video industry.  Over the past few years, online video streaming services, called “Over-the-Top”, have rapidly become popular and have deprived the subscribers from existing Pay-TV companies.  The reasons why OTT services have taken advantage of existing markets are 1) the infrastructures for their services have drastically improved -- faster internet access speeds and various devices such as smartphones, tablets, and Set-Top-Boxes that are suitable for watching video being released and becoming popular; 2) subscription fees for services are about six times less than the fees for existing Pay TV services like cable TV or satellite TV; and 3) OTT markets have attractive content such as movies, dramas, TV shows, and animated videos and have started producing their own original, high-quality content.  As a result of the growth of the OTT market, Wakabayashi discusses three big trends that are emerging in the video industry in the United States – 1) Video streaming providers are becoming the “New Network”, 2) Large consolidations are emerging and 3) Existing media companies are going toward OTT markets.

In this session of the Shorenstein APARC Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows Research Presentations, the following will be presented:

Tsuyoshi Koshikawa, Ministry of Finance, Japan, "Consideration of the Best Practice of Financial Administration – Through a Comparison Between the United States and Japan"

Japan has experienced two big financial crises.  One was the so-called “Non-performing Loan Problem” approximately from 1997 to 2003.  The other was the Global Financial Crisis, especially represented by Lehman Brothers Securities bankruptcy in September 2008 and originally caused by the so-called Subprime Loan Problem that occurred in the United States in the latter part of 2006.  Especially concerning the latter crisis, there have been active discussions among scholars and international organizations and each financial regulator carried out rule-making and policy-making in order to prevent the next crisis.  As a result, for example in the United States, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was established in July 2010.  But even now these discussions have been continuing in G20, Financial Stability Board, Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and so on.  What is the best practice in order to realize trustworthy protection of users and improvement of convenience, which is the biggest issue along with ensuring stability of the financial system?  In his presentation, Koshikawa will introduce recent discussions through a comparison between the United States and Japan and argue implications in the best practice of financial administration.

Changbao Zhang, PetroChina, "Reformation & Improvement of International Human Resource Management of Chinese State-Owned Petroleum Enterprises"

China has the most quantity of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and state-owned property in the world.  Almost every field and industry of the national economy is involved with SOEs.  The implementation of China’s open policy and “going out” strategy are gradually pushing Chinese SOEs into the competition of the global market.  Compared to western companies, the gap in technology is not as big as management, especially in human resources management (HRM) which is influenced by politics, economy, society, history and traditional culture.  Zhang has analyzed and compared the history, current situation and future direction of HRM of Chinese SOEs and that of western companies.  Based on his findings, Zhang proposes suggested solutions focusing on the enterprise micro-level HRM with the case of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

In this session of the Shorenstein APARC Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows Research Presentations, the following will be presented:

Yoshihiro Kaga, Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry, Japan, "The Roles of University-Industry Collaboration for Promoting Innovation"

The existence of top class universities, especially those ties with industry, is regarded as one of the key characteristics of the Silicon Valley ecosystem, where the most successful innovation-based economic growth in the world is observed today.  Kaga has conducted a literature review of previous research on this topic and research on Stanford organizations facilitating university-industry ties.  Kaga will present his findings and share implications for policies in Japan.  His research is in cooperation with Shingo Nakano.

Feng Lin, ACON Biotechnology, "Innovations in China Primary Healthcare Reform: Development and Characteristics of the Community Health Services in Hangzhou"

One of the five major tasks for China’s health reforms launched in 2009 was to promote the development of a primary healthcare system.  Hangzhou is one of the cities with a long history in China for developing community health services.  Lin has studied the model of community health services in Hangzhou, which is characterized as government-led, guaranteed with enough funding, personnel, space and regulation; supported by a unified information platform; and the assigned central role of general practitioners as health “gatekeepers”.  His data collection and analysis have indicated that the basic health status of residents in Hangzhou is comparable to that in Western developed countries.  Based on these findings, Lin proposes that the primary healthcare level in Hangzhou will be further developed and promoted with the indexed performance evaluations and more effective implementation of additional measures.

Shingo Nakano, Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry, Japan, "Policy Implications for Increasing the Number of Start-ups in Japan"

As mentioned in “Japan Revitalization Strategy (Revised in 2014),” it is critical for Japan to develop an environment where venture businesses are launched one after another.   The Japanese government has taken some measures to this end, but significant obstacles - such as institutional, human, financial, etc. - remain for venture businesses.  Nakano's research looks at how to eliminate these obstacles, while focusing on increasing the number of start-ups in Japan.  Based on his findings, Nakano will discuss some policy implications for improving the Japanese start-up ecosystem.  His research was conducted in collaboration with Yoshihiro Kaga. 

In this session of the Shorenstein APARC Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows Research Presentations, the following will be presented:

Liang Fang, China Sunrain Solar Energy Company, "Comparison of Mobile Internet Innovation between U.S. and China's Internet Companies"

The rapid penetration of smartphones in China has stimulated the innovation in mobile internet and therefore resulted in many new business models.  Today, China is highly developed in some areas like e-commerce, mobile commerce, social media and O2O (offline to online sales) based on the characteristic of China’s online world.  Other factors that are stimulating China’s speed of innovation in mobile internet are 1) economics of scale based on high numbers of users, 2)  a large supply of software engineers and ambitious entrepreneurs, and 3) the government’s encouragement for national innovation.  Fang has applied case-study methods to analyze several of China’s most innovative internet companies and compare them with players in the U.S.  Fang also tracked a few representatives Chinese internet companies which have moved beyond China to enter the U.S. market.  According to his findings, Fang tried to answer the question of “How differently are current Chinese internet companies from their peers in the U.S. in aspects of innovation?” and “How far will Chinese internet companies go beyond the China market with their own innovation?”

Wataru Fukuda, Shizuoka Prefectural Government, "Promotional Strategies and Tactics in the Tourism Market, Focusing on Practices in the U.S."

In 2014, nearly 900,000 Americans visited Japan.  However, only 2-3% of those travelers visited the Shizuoka area, which is located between Tokyo and Kyoto – two of the most favorites areas to visit in Japan.  Shizuoka has the largest number of Japanese Inns (Ryokan), and the fourth largest market share of Japanese travelers.  With the tourism resources and an ideal location, which is frequently accessed from Tokyo and Kyoto, Shizuoka has a huge potential to expand the market share.  In his research, the statistical framework first identified the demographics profile and the characteristics of American travelers to Japan.  Within the luxury market, there is a growing number of affluent millenials who are looking for authentic experiences in their travels.  Fukuda has researched the possibilities of developing an inbound tourism market in Japan, specifically in Shizuoka, learning from practices in the United States.  His research identifies the affluent millenials as specific potential customers for the next decade and investigates the possibilities of the tourism resources in Shizuoka to satisfy their wants and needs.

Ryuichiro Takeshita, The Asahi Shimbun, "Should Human Beings or Computer Algorithms Be the Editors of News? - A Case Study of SmartNews (a Tokyo-based media start-up)"

SmartNews is a Japanese news aggregation app which expanded its service to the United States in 2014. The app is beautifully designed and readers can enjoy a mix of news stories from different publishers such as CNN, NBC News, Wired, Etc.  Instead of human editors deciding which news to put on page one, SmartNews uses computer algorithms to collect and distribute news.  The computer program cannot only analyze social media, but is able to track down how and when people read news.  Therefore, instead of relying on human intuition and experience, it can calculate which article will be most “important” to the mass audience.  Is this a kind of artificial intelligence and a defeat of human knowledge?  Is it using technology to generate collective intelligence?  Takeshita will illustrate the race against machines in the media industry and try to figure out how human beings could build an ideal relationship with machines.

Abstract: Today’s international relations are plagued by anxieties about the nuclear state and the state of being nuclear. But exactly what does it mean for a nation, a technology, a substance, or a workplace to be “nuclear”? How, and to whom, does the designation “nuclear” matter? Considering these questions from African vantage points shifts our paradigm for understanding the global nuclear order. In any given year of the Cold War, African mines supplied 20%–50% of the Western world’s uranium ore. As both political object and material substance, African ore shaped global conceptions and meanings of the “nuclear,” with enduring consequences for the legal and illegal circulation of radioactive materials, the global institutions and treaties governing nuclear weapons and atomic energy, and the lives and health of workers. This talk explores those consequences, drawing on historical and contemporary examples from Niger and South Africa. The view from Africa offers scholars and policymakers fresh perspectives on issues including global nuclear governance, export controls, pricing mechanisms, and occupational health regulation

About the Speaker: Gabrielle Hecht is professor of history at the University of Michigan, where she also directs the Program in Science, Technology, and Society. Her publications include two books on history and policy in the nuclear age. Being Nuclear: Africans and the Global Uranium Trade (MIT Press, 2012) offers new perspectives on the global nuclear order. The Radiance of France: Nuclear Power and National Identity (MIT Press, 1998, 2nd edition, 2009) explores how the French embedded nuclear policy in reactor technology. It received awards from the American Historical Association and the Society for the History of Technology. Hecht was appointed by ministerial decree to the scientific advisory board for France’s national radioactive waste management agency, ANDRA. She also serves on the advisory board for AGORAS, an interdisciplinary collaboration between academic and industry researchers to improve safety governance in French nuclear installations. She recently advised the U.S. Senate Committee on Investigations on the history of the uranium market, for its report on Wall Street Bank Involvement with Physical Commodities. Hecht’s work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council for Learned Societies, and the South African and Dutch national research foundations, among others. Hecht holds a Ph.D. in history and sociology of science from the University of Pennsylvania.