11:45 am luncheon 12:00 pm program begins Lunch provided only to those who make a reservation with Ms. Okky Choi by 12:00 pm on Wednesday, May 28. You can contact her via email at okkychoi@stanford.edu or via phone at 650-724-8271.

In recent years, despite the Chinese economy's rapid growth -- the highest in the world -- and China's progress in improving its financial system, serious risks and problems in the Chinese stock market remain. After examining such issues as high speculation and high P/E ratios in the Chinese stock market, Ms. Wang, in her work with Dr. Lawrence Lau (Shorenstein APARC), argues that the Chinese government should formulate certain tax policies. These proposed policies would not only increase the corporate after-tax profits but they would also encourage the substitution of equity for debt. Currently such a strategy would lower the P/E ratios without lowering the stock prices, attract new long-term investors, and strengthen the stability of the stock market. It will not significantly reduce fiscal revenue but likely increase the tax revenue in the long run. Please join us for a lively discussion of the issues and policies that Ms. Wang proposes in her presentation.

11:30 a.m.: "Digital Content Industry in the Information Technology Era" Eiji Tsujimoto, Impress Corporation (Advisor: Harry Rowen) 11:50 a.m. : "Internet Business Strategy for Newspaper Companies" Hiroshi Nozawa, Asahi Shimbun Company (Advisor: Russ Hancock) 12:10 p.m.: "Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship in the Silicon Valley and the Greater China Region" Joseph Huang, AllCan Investment Company (Advisor: Marguerite Hancock) 12:30 p.m. : "How Can Japan Make Effective Industrial Policies For Promoting New Technologies and Industrial Revitalization?" Kosuke Takahashi, Development Bank of Japan (Advisor: Mike Armacost) 12:50 p.m. : "The Difference of Information Strategy Between the USA and Japan" Tatsushi Tatsumi, Sumitomo Corporation (Advisor: Marguerite Hancock) 1:10 p.m. : "Comparative Study of Technology Policy for Small Business Between the USA and Japan" Hidetaka Nishimura, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (Advisor: Mike Armacost) 1:30 p.m. : "How Can China Learn from U.S. Small Business Policies?" Tingru Liu, Infotech Ventures Comapany (Advisor: Harry Rowen) Lunch served to those who respond to Yumi Onoyama by 12:00 noon Tuesday, May 20, 2003. Please contact Yumi via email at yumio@stanford.edu.

This is a presentation of joint work with Dr. Rafiq Dossani, Shorenstein APARC. About the Talk: IT (Information Technology) outsourcing has become a standard approach for many Fortune 3000 and smaller companies to achieve cost-effectiveness. However, while outsourcing at the low end of the value chain has gained acceptance, many issues remain unresolved at the high end of the IT value chain. We develop a characterization of outsourcing firms, suppliers, and tasks that is useful in providing guidelines on when to outsource, and whom to outsource to. These guidelines for IT outsourcing strategies are based on a study of US customers, and Indian IT suppliers, involving questionnaires and interviews. To our knowledge, this is first study that has captured the supplier characteristics in the level of detail, which will be discussed by Dr. Akella in his talk. Professor Ram Akella is currently professor of IE and Management, and was the founding director, SUNY Center for Excellence in Global Enterprise Management. At Stanford, the University of California, Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon University, as a faculty member and director, Professor Akella has led major multi-million dollar interdisciplinary team efforts in high tech and semiconductors. His current research interests include in process learning, quality, fab economic models, cost of ownership and financial justification for IT Management and equipment, production planning and control, and bio-informatics. His other interests are enterprise systems, IT and software, financial engineering, high tech and e-business, and range from cell and factory level design and control to enterprise-wide coordination and logistics, including supply chain management and contracts, financial engineering and investment, demand management, e-commerce and e-business exchanges, and product and process portfolios for risk management and design capacity management.

In Japan, fiscal decentralization has recently received public attention as a solution for the problematic intergovernmental fiscal relationship between its central and local governments, and as a potential solution for some of the country's most serious problems such as the large size of total government expenditures, its continuously inactive economy, and its huge public debt. This fiscal decentralization policy is actively being discussed within the Koizumi cabinet especially between Mr. Shiokawa and Mr. Katayama. Mr. Akaiwa will discuss following issues based on his interdisciplinary research:

1. What are the problems in the current intergovernmental fiscal relationship in Japan?
   
2. How has the fiscal decentralization policy been argued among bureaucrats and politicians for several decades?
   
3. What are the expected effects of the fiscal decentralization policy in both economic and political contexts?
   
4. How should the Japanese government implement fiscal decentralization policy?

How is the American-led war in Iraq affecting Asian countries and their relations with the United States? Is a clash of civilizations underway? Will Islamist rage in Southeast Asia spawn terrorist attacks on Americans there? Will Islamist parties in Indonesia be able to ride this wave of anger into power in the elections to be held in April 2004? Will the regime in North Korea take advantage of American preoccupations in Iraq and Afghanistan to escalate tensions in Northeast Asia? How will the economies of Southeast and Northeast Asia be affected by the conflict in Iraq? Will Washington's priority on ousting Saddam Hussein undermine its effort to stabilize Afghanistan? And what will the repercussions in Asia be if, against the expectation of many observers, the Iraq war turns out to be short and the seeds of Iraqi democracy are successfully sown?

This is third Huang Lian Memorial Lecture at the Center for Economic Development and Policy Reform at Stanford University.

During the past few years, significant economic growth, together with mature talent and huge market potential, have attracted a larger number of entrepreneurs and venture investment to create a high-tech start-up fever in China. While the outcome of these new enterprises in terms of business success and financial return are still unclear, the recent economic downturn in the United States has further fueled this trend. As a participant of venture investment activities in China during the past two years, Dr. Chwang will take a candid look at the opportunities and challenges of private entrepreneurship in China. He will discuss the interactive dynamics of this new growth in the Greater China region. He will examine the Silicon Valley influence on this phenomenon and the pros and cons of applying the Valley's model in China.

Ronald Chwang is the chairman and president of Acer Technology Ventures (ATV) America. Dr. Chwang initiated the Acer venture investment activities in North America with the launch of a $40 million "Acer Technology Venture Fund" in 1997. Subsequently, ATV's investment scope was further expanded after the successful formation of the second fund, a $260 million "IP Fund One", in May 2000, together with new investment activities in key regions of the Asia Pacific.

Dr. Chwang currently serves actively on the board of a number of ATV's portfolio companies such as Reflectivity, iRobot, and OctaSoft. He also serves on the board of the following public companies: Silicon Storage Technology Inc. in Sunnyvale, California, Acer Laboratories Inc. ,and Ambit Microsystems Corp. in Taiwan.

From 1992 to 1997, Dr. Chwang was president and CEO of Acer America Corporation. Under his leadership, Acer America's revenue grew from $200 million to $1.44 billion. Dr. Chwang has been with Acer since 1986, serving in various executive positions leading business units engaged in ASIC products, computer peripherals, and Acer-Altos server system. Before joining Acer, Dr. Chwang worked for several years in development and management positions at Intel in Oregon and Bell Northern Research in Ottawa, Canada. Dr. Chwang received his B. Eng. Degree in Honors Electrical Engineering from McGill University in Montreal, and his Ph.D. in EE from the University of Southern California.

Following the successful migration of semiconductor foundries business to Taiwan, IC design houses are now flowing to Asia. As a result, the opportunities for venture capital investments in Greater China are increasing. Based on on-the-ground experience gained during the past ten years dealing with high-tech venture businesses between Silicon Valley and Asia, Jesse Chen will share his unique perspective on the changing dynamics of risks, timing, business sectors etc. for optimizing investments in the high tech industry in Greater China.

Jesse Chen is managing director of Maton Venture. Maton is a global venture with strategic investors and VC partners from the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Taiwan. Launched in October 1997, Maton now has thirty-two portfolio companies across Semiconductor, Communication, Software and other Information Technology industries. As of December 2002, three have gone public and five have been acquired. Jesse currently serves as board member for eleven companies.

Before Maton, Jesse co-founded BusLogic, Inc. in 1988 and served as CEO and president until it was acquired in 1996. BusLogic designed and marketed ASIC, Board and Software for the computer storage industry. Under Jesse's leadership, BusLogic achieved twenty-two quarters of consecutive growth and profitability, yielding BusLogic's first investor more than sixty times return of investment within six years. BusLogic is now part of IBM.

Jesse also served as chairman of the Global Monte Jade Science and Technology Association from 1998 to 2000 and served as Chairman of Monte Jade West from 1997 to 1998. Monte Jade has more than one thousand high tech corporate members throughout North America and Asia and more than fifty are public companies.

With the world economy and particularly the technology sector in turmoil, venture capitalists are struggling to identify new opportunities before the next up cycle. Investing in Silicon Valley and the Greater China region continues to hold great promise for venture capitalists. With years of experience investing in both US and Asia, Mr. Chu will present some insight into comparing venture capital in US and Greater China. What are the differences and similarities in funds, managers, portfolio strategies, portfolio companies and exit strategies, etc.? How can we assess the pre-bubble and post Internet bubble venture environment? Last but not least, how will venture capital change in the coming years?

About the speaker
Peter Chu is a managing partner at AsiaTech, one of the first venture capital firms in Asia. AsiaTech focuses on growing early-stage technology companies in applications, software and services, and communications and infrastructure. Prior to joining AsiaTech in 1998, Peter co-founded two companies. He served as the president and executive producer of Channel A, an Internet content and commerce start-up and he was also a co-founder and marketing director at Envive Corporation. Previously, Peter worked at Verity Corporation and Oracle Corporation. Peter holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford and an MBA from Harvard Business School.