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

Jiecheng Cheng, “Knowledge Management of the Petroleum Enterprise”

Knowledge management as an effective tool to retain, capture, share and reuse organization knowledge.  This is important in dealing with the problem of lost knowledge caused by a company’s growth, employee turnover, retirement, and the quandary caused by information explosion.  Petroleum enterprises are more knowledge intensive and could benefit from knowledge management.  Cheng’s research presents the concept and theory of knowledge management, the needed technologies, the role of the people, the key practical issues, and the future of knowledge management. 

Yoshiko Moriguchi, “Demand Response by Smart Meters”

A smart meter is generally defined as a type of advanced electrical meter that enables to monitor the energy consumption at real time base or near real time base. It has the additional features more than simple automated meter reading and can provide customers with the feedback to encourage their actions for saving energy and money.  In North America and Europe, many studies have been conducted to address the relation of data feedback and customer’s behaviors. Japanese utilities just started to consider installation of smart meters, therefore, this research will address the topics that can be referred to demand response by smart meters for residential customers in Japan.

Boyoung Shin, “Korea's Public Policy Profile Amidst Regime Change: Analysis of President Noh's  Real Estate Policy”

After nearly half a century of conservatives in power, Korea’s center left party (the NCNP and the MDP ) won the presidential elections in 1997 and 2002 consecutively and became the ruling party until the beginning of 2008. This major transformation of power struggle structure in Korea subsequently led characteristic changes in the public policy making tendency of its administration. Yet, Korea still was in the midst of the Neo-liberalized way of economical and social structural reform that was guided by IMF since the1997 financial crisis.  In his research Shin examines the Noh administration’s challenge to compensate its supporters by exploring its particular public policy:  “Real Estate Policy of Noh Administration”.

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

Hiroyuki Koyano, "The Strategy for Accerlation of Patent Examination - Focusing on Human Resource Management"

The number of patent application filings has increased across the world as a result of the globalization of the world economy. In addition, technology has become more complex and the demands for a quality patent has grown. Working against this trend, the period of patent examination has become longer, so patent offices have adopted plans to remedy the situation and accelerate patent examination. Hiroyuki Koyano attempts to compare the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) plans with those of JPO’s and analyze the problems focusing mainly on human resource management.

Mitsue Kurihara, "The Recent M&A Boom in Japan"

Mergers and Acquisitons in Japan have been booming since the late 1990s. What initially started as a method for industrial rehabilitation, today, M&A is put to use by many companies as part of their corporate strategy. Utilizing her experiences as an advisor for M&A, Kurihara researches the remarkable trend in the boom of Japanese M&A over the last ten years, as well as the future of Japanese M&A market in terms of where it should be headed.

Bhavna Sharma, “Polymorphisms in Breast Cancer Mutation Carriers: Comparative Studies in Caucasian and Hong Kong Population”

Breast cancer rates differ significantly in Asia compared to the United States and other western countries.  Lifestyle and genetic differences between these populations are probably causes of this variation.  Sharma presents findings from her study that hypothesized that the genetic breast cancer risk factors that differ between BRCA1/2 mutation carriers in Asia and the U.S. may result in a different magnitude of breast cancer risk among Asians versus Caucasians who carry BRCA1/2 mutations.

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

Kazuhiko Ejima, "Will Japan Need a Tax Increase?"

Japan, the second largest economy in the world, is secretly facing a significant public debt problem with the worst debt-to-GDP ratio among developed countries. Despite the crisis, the country has long failed in introducing a tax increase. What obstacles are lurking in the country? Will they change in the future? Should the country try to overcome them? In Japan, it is widely believed that raising the consumption tax is the best approach to fixing the country’s finances. In contrast, based on the character of the obstacles, Ejima argues that any new budget reconstruction plan should focus more on economic growth through expenditure renovation rather than sticking to a tax increase.

Natsuki Kamiya, "Insolvent Municipalities:  Do They Need Bankruptcy?”

While municipalities can declare bankruptcy in the United States, there is no bankruptcy system for municipalities in Japan. Japanese cities in financial distress pay off all debts in full for long term, while American counterparts can seek bankruptcy protection. Kamiya examines what the differences are between the two countries. Kamiya attempts to answer the question – “Does Japan need legislation to allow municipalities to declare bankruptcy?”

Daisuke Maeda, "Long Tail Theory in Online Retail Commerce - Is It True or Not? Is It Profitable?"

The Long Tail is one of the most famous theories in online retail commerce.  Many start-ups in online commerce use this theory to justify themselves.  However, there are times when the Long Tail does not work and may have some constraints.  Maeda considers what the Long Tail is and what he would advise online retailers to do. 

Koji Toyoshima, "Quantitative Analysis and Possibility of Reduction of CO₂ Emission from Passenger Transportation in Japan and the U.S."

The U.S. and Japan are the world largest and the second largest economy.  However, the CO₂ emissions in these two countries are very different. The total U.S. CO₂ emission per capita is more than twice of that in Japan. Twenty to thirty percent of CO₂ emission comes from the transportation sector and sixty to seventy percent of them are passenger transportation in each country. The U.S. CO₂ emission per capita in the passenger transportation sector is more than three times of that in Japan.  Toyoshima analyzes and compares the breakdown of CO₂ emissions in the passenger transportation sector in Japan and the U.S. including the influences of public transportations to understand the trend and estimate the reduction possibility of CO₂ emissions in these two countries.

Although South Korea has democratized, the weakness of liberalism there as a major political ideology and value system has prevented the full flowering of democracy.  This talk will examine the historical roots of liberalism's failure to take firm root in Korean politics and society.  The causes of such weakness are to be found, in both of the two major social and political forces in Korean society,  conservatives and radical/progressive forces; neither has been or is liberal.  The resulting problems include a strong, highly centralized state and its authoritarian tendencies,  the failure to create a stable party system, civil society's weak autonomy vis-à-vis the state, and inadequate constitutional checks-and-balances among the three branches of government exacerbated by a weak judiciary.  With democratic practice falling ever farther behind the Korean people's aspirations, enhanced liberalism will not solve all problems.  Nevertheless, Dr. Choi argues, it could point the way toward a richer Korean democracy.

Jang Jip Choi is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Korea University, Seoul, Korea, and currently a Visiting Professor in the Sociology Department at Stanford University.  Specializing in contemporary political history in Korea, the theory of democracy, comparative politics and labor politics, professor Choi is the author of many books, scholarly articles and political commentaries on Korean politics,  including  Democracy after Democratization in Korea (2002),  Which Democracy? (2007), and From Minjung to Citizens (2008).  Professor Choi holds a B.A. in political science from Korea University, and  an M.A. and a Ph.D in Political Science from the University of Chicago. He was a professor in the department of political science at Korea University until his retirement in 2008.