Labor market duality refers to the coexistence of temporary workers with low dismissal costs and permanent workers with high dismissal costs within the same firms. The prevalence of temporary employment is a common feature in several countries, such as Continental European countries. Further, since the 1980s, the Japanese labor market has been experiencing a substantial increase in temporary jobs. The quality of temporary jobs tends to be lower than that of permanent jobs (e.g., the former includes lesser job security, lower wages, and fewer training opportunities compared to the latter). For this reason, the causes and consequences of widespread temporary employment have both policy and academic implications. To date, most of the research on this topic has focused on the supply side of labor markets (demographic changes in workforce), macroeconomic impacts (business cycles), and labor-market institutions. However, since the majority of temporary workers tends to be involuntary, the demand-side analysis is important, as well. It has rarely been examined how market competition would affect firms’ demand for temporary and permanent labor, particularly within the context of economic globalization.

Our study attempts to fill this gap. By proposing a heterogeneous-firm trade model with a dual labor market, we examine the relations between the demand for temporary and permanent workers and economic globalization. Our model highlights intensified product market competition as a driving force behind the shift in demand from permanent to temporary workers. In addition, our model demonstrates that international outsourcing effectively reduces labor adjustment costs, which decreases the demand for permanent workers. Using industry-level data from the Japanese manufacturing sector, we empirically test the relations between the demand for temporary and permanent workers and economic globalization and find that they support most of our theoretical predictions.

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Hiroaki Yasutake has had a front row seat in the development of Japan’s startup ecosystem for the past 20 years as he joined Rakuten as one of its earliest employees, spending many years at its CTO. In this talk, he will share various insights gained from being an integral part of the rise of Rakuten as it grew rapidly by introducing new services, buying much larger and established companies, and the process by which it made itself a reputable, established company in Japan. He also experienced Rakuten’s famed “English-nization” and the company’s aggressive global push. More broadly, many of his friends, associates and acquaintances fanned out to drive the growth of Japan’s startup ecosystem, which has transformed dramatically in the past two decades, and he will share many of their experiences, along with challenges facing Japan’s stage of the startup ecosystem. Yasutake also co-founded Junify, and he will introduce the business itself, his motivations for moving to Silicon Valley, and his observations of specific efforts by Japanese entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. 

SPEAKER:

Hiroaki Yasutake, Co-founder and CSO, Junify, and former CTO, Rakuten

BIO:

Hiroaki Yasutake joined Rakuten (founded 1997) in its infancy in 1998 as an engineer after briefly working at NTT. At Rakuten, he was in charge of creating various services and served as CTO before departing in 2016. He moved to Silicon Valley and co-founded a new startup, Junify, and currently also assists various large and small Japanese companies about their technology and innovation strategies as external board member and advisor. He graduated from Waseda University’s Graduate School of science research, mathematical sciences, and in 2015, attended the Stanford Executive Program (SEP) at the Graduate School of Business.

AGENDA:

4:15pm: Doors open
4:30pm-5:30pm: Talk and Discussion
5:30pm-6:00pm: Networking

RSVP REQUIRED:

Register to attend at http://www.stanford-svnj.org/112718-public-forum

Please note there is significant construction taking place on campus, which is greatly affecting parking availability and traffic patterns at the university. Please plan accordingly.

In 2012, as giants such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google began to position themselves as the go-to places to read news, a little-known news app called SmartNews emerged and started gaining popularity in Japan. The SmartNews app has since been dubbed “App of the Year” on Google Play and won the “Best of” award in Apple’s App store, launched US operations in 2014, and now has over 10 million monthly active users in US and Japan.

In the age of fake news and information polarization, SmartNews is working to deliver to users a balanced diet of quality information from trusted journalism sources. The SmartNews news app uses machine learning to deliver curated news from more than 3000 sources and identify fake news. The SmartNews Delivery Algorithm not only considers users’ likes and clicks and other behavior on the app to generate suggestions, but also applies political balancing algorithms to ensure multiple viewpoints are expressed on important topics, and diversification algorithms to help break the filter bubble.

In this public forum, SmartNews Director of Product Management Yuhei Nishioka will talk about SmartNews’ story and growth trajectory, competing in the current news app landscape, and finally, discuss the process and considerations in creating the SmartNews News Delivery Algorithm. Introduction by Rich Jaroslovsky Vice President for Content and Chief Journalist of SmartNews and former Wall Street Journal White House correspondent.

MAIN SPEAKER:

Yuhei Nishioka, Director of Product Management, SmartNews

INTRODUCTION BY:

Rich Jaroslovsky, Vice President for Content and Chief Journalist, SmartNews and former Wall Street Journal White House correspondent

AGENDA:

4:15pm: Doors open
4:30pm-5:30pm: Main Content, followed by discussion
5:30pm-6:00pm: Networking

RSVP REQUIRED:

Register to attend at http://www.stanford-svnj.org/101618-public-forum

PARKING ON CAMPUS:

Please note there is significant construction taking place on campus, which is greatly affecting parking availability and traffic patterns at the university. Please plan accordingly.