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.

About the Talk Everyone likes the city full of parks and open space. But why has more and more open space been lost in Tokyo, while other metropolitan areas such as San Francisco succeed in keeping greeneries? Based on the research and work experience in both Tokyo and San Francisco, Tomoko Takeuchi analyzes why greenery areas are disappearing in Tokyo and proposes a recovery plan. The discussion topics include: - Current problems of the park planning in Tokyo. - Social, historical, and natural comparison between Tokyo and San Francisco. - Advantages of San Francisco's park planning over that of Tokyo - Recommendation for the city planning policy of Tokyo Tomoko Takeuchi is a chief city planner at Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Japan and currently a visiting scholar at Shorenstein APARC, Stanford. She obtained a master degree in landscape architecture from the University of Tokyo.

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.

This lecture is part of a series entitled "Lectures linking North Korea and Iraq." Dr. Kyung-Won Kim currently serves as president of the Institute of Social Sciences in Seoul, where he is also president of the Seoul Forum for International Affairs. Prior to his post in Washington, he was ambassador to the United Nations (1982-1985), and from 1975-1980 he serves as special assistant for international affairs to the Korean president. Dr. Kim holds a PhD from Harvard University, and honorary doctorates from Williams College and York University.

Professor Ferrary will present the results of a comparative study between Silicon Valley and Sophia Antipolis (France). He and co-authors Michel Bernasconi (Ceram) and Ludovic DiBiaggio (Ceram) examine to what extent the endogenous growth of a high-tech cluster depends on two factors:

1. The complete set of communities of practices (Wenger, 1998) providing the complementary competences needed to create and develop start-ups (e.g. scientific researchers, managers, engineers, VC, lawyers, consultants, etc.)
2. The quality of interactions between these communities of practices, defined as a group of people linked by strong ties (Granovetter, 1973) to produce expertises through frequent interactions. The coordination and circulation of information depend on the quality of weak ties between these communities.

Is a high-tech cluster handicapped if a community of practices is missing? And/or if the quality of inter-communities interactions is poor? Professor Ferrary will share the results of testing these hypotheses in Silicon Valley and Sophia Antipolis.

About the Speaker

Michel Ferrary is Professor of Management at Ceram Graduate School of Business in Sophia-Antipolis (French Riviera). Previously, he was a visiting scholar for two years at Stanford's Department of Sociology, where he analyzed social networks in Silicon Valley and the new practices of corporate venturing used by large high-tech companies. Professor Ferrary has published journal articles on a wide array of topics, including labor markets, competencies management, banking strategy, the use of social networks in banking activities, corporate venturing, and social networks in Silicon Valley. He received his PhD in business administration from HEC Business School (France).