The Fortress and the Cloud: Women, technology and entrepreneurship in Japan

About the seminar

Facebook, YouTube and Second Life are well known in the US, but what about MIXI, 2-Channel or Nico Nico Douga? The digital domain is transforming life and business in Japan: traditional business "fortresses" are being challenged and new models are developing from within the "cloud" of the digital world.

These technologies and the "digital life-style" provide a foundation for businesses and disruptive business models arising from new areas within the socio-economic infrastructure of Japan. This, combined with increasing pressure on the shrinking labor market, creates an opportunity for significant change in the entrepreneurial environment in Japan, including the rise of women entrepreneurs. This seminar explores the ongoing transformation of social and institutional logic in Japan at the edge of the new digital frontier.

About the speaker

Charla Griffy-Brown is Associate Professor of Information Systems and Technology Management and holds the Denny Endowed Chair at Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and Management. Dr. Griffy-Brown's primary areas of research are information systems security and techno-economic development in the Asia-Pacific. She has written extensively on technology and business development in Japan and recently co-authored a book of global case studies entitled Women, Technology and Entrepreneurship. She is part of a global research team analyzing the transformation of institutional systems and techno-economic development with the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis and Tokyo Institute of Technology.