Global Affiliates Research Presentations (session 1 of 5)

Thursday, May 9, 2019
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
(Pacific)
Philippines Conference Room
Encina Hall, Third Floor, Central, C330
616 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305

The format of this presentation is each of the four speakers will have approximately 15 minutes to present their research.  This will be followed by a short period of 5-10 minutes for any questions or comments from the audience.

In this session of the Global Affiliates Research Presentations, the following will be presented:

Tetsuji Ito, Development Bank of Japan, "Major League Baseball Team Management and Their Contribution to Regional Economy — with Comparison and Suggestions to Japanese Professional Baseball"

The average annual salary of an MLB player has more than quadrupled since 1995 reaching the current high of over $4 million.  Since 1995, the highest annual salary went from $10 million to now well over $30 million and is expected to continue to rise.  This has been made possible by the growth of the MLB's market size itself - currently at $100 billion which is more than seven times higher than the 1995 levels.  However, the average attendance per MLB game is decreasing and the average age of the MLB fan is increasing which could be a problem.  On the other hand, the Japanese professional baseball market has grown by only 1.5 times over the same period. In his research, Ito analyzes MLB's growth factors and studies their contribution to the regional economy, as well as their implications for the Japanese professional baseball market and regional economy.

Yangming Li, PetroChina, "The Potential Uses of AI for China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)"

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Similar to other international oil and gas companies, the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is facing big challenges.  At the same time, Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has been adopted everywhere and will be applied widely to the oil and gas industry.  These big companies, such as Shell and BP, are trying to rapidly scale and replicate AI technologies to improve their operational performances.  In his research, Li analyzes CNPC's current situation and its corporate strategy.  Li explains AI's application directions and benefits for CNPC's major business units such as enterprise management, oil exploration, refinery and gas stations, etc.  In his presentation, he will provide suggestions that CNPC may take AI as a new kernel of corporate strategy and outlines some considerations when implementing AI. 

Yuki Sakai, Mitsubishi Electric, "Software Quality Assurance for Collaboration with Startups"

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Advanced technology, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, accelerates the cycle of business innovation.  Recently, many startups have developed AI-based software products.  Automotive makers, their suppliers and others collaborate on software development with startups as partners for their new products.  However, the gap of software requirements between the startups' products and automotive products can cause quality issues.  What can firms do for the startups to ensure software quality?  In his research, Sakai investigates software engineering for quality assurance for AI-based software products. 

Col. Masahiro Shizu, Japan Air Self Defense Force, "Relation in Cross Domain Operations Between Japan and the U.S."

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The security environment surrounding the world is constantly changing.  Under these circumstances, Japan has been continuously implementing various efforts to achieve peace, independence, and the stability of the region.  However, with limited resources, it is difficult to respond to the current environment.  Therefore, it is time for Japan to adopt and practice a new strategy rather than conventional strategy.  This is the concept of the so-called "Cross Domain Operation" and is becoming more widely used around the world.  In his research, Shizu will consider possible roles and ways of cooperation between Japan and the United States under the strong Japan-U.S. alliance.