FSI researchers strive to understand how countries relate to one another, and what policies are needed to achieve global stability and prosperity. International relations experts focus on the challenging U.S.-Russian relationship, the alliance between the U.S. and Japan and the limitations of America’s counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan.
Foreign aid is also examined by scholars trying to understand whether money earmarked for health improvements reaches those who need it most. And FSI’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center has published on the need for strong South Korean leadership in dealing with its northern neighbor.
FSI researchers also look at the citizens who drive international relations, studying the effects of migration and how borders shape people’s lives. Meanwhile FSI students are very much involved in this area, working with the United Nations in Ethiopia to rethink refugee communities.
Trade is also a key component of international relations, with FSI approaching the topic from a slew of angles and states. The economy of trade is rife for study, with an APARC event on the implications of more open trade policies in Japan, and FSI researchers making sense of who would benefit from a free trade zone between the European Union and the United States.
Research Presentations (5 of 5) - Acharya, Shi, Zhao
In this session of the Shorenstein APARC Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows Research Presentations, the following will be presented:
Niranjan Acharya, "Follow-on Biologics - Oppoertunities and Challenges in the U.S. Market
The pharmaceutical market in the United States is the largest in the world. Currently, the percentage of GDP spending towards healthcare is the highest and is expected to be on the rise in coming years. As a result, it is imperative to look for avenues to reduce the burden on the system.
When compared to the overall pharmaceuticals market, biologics though, garner a minuscule share in prescriptions. However, this equates into 15% of the market value, which is high compared to the number of prescriptions. In his presentation, Acharya suggests biologics as one of the options to reduce the cost of healthcare spending and attempts to understand the overall opportunities and challenges for follow-on biologics in the United States.
Xiaoyuan Shi, "Emerging Trends of Internal Audit in Risk Management"
The business world is becoming increasingly complex due to new, evolving and emerging risks. Organizations are giving risk management more consideration, internal auditors are finding they can play important roles in risk management and may become a powerful promoter of enterprise risk management practices. How can internal auditors shape their future? In her presentation, Shi will introduce current internal audit activities and provide some insight into the direction of how internal auditors expect to perform in the coming years. Shi will also provide her analysis of what is and what should be the role of internal audit in risk management.
Guoqiang Zhao, "What Can China Learn from the U.S. Financial Crisis?"
The 2007-09 financial crisis triggered by the burst of the housing bubble proved to be the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s. As boom and bust repeated periodically, Zhao has tried to find out the vulnerabilities in both the private and public sector that caused this recent crisis to be so devastating. Zhao shares recommendations for the reform of the Chinese financial system.
Philippines Conference Room
Research Presentations (4 of 5) - Deshpande, Masuda, Shi
In this session of the Shorenstein APARC Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows Research Presentations, the following will be presented:
Sanat Deshpande, "Best Practices in Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Management"
The pharmaceutical supply chain is very complex and highly responsible to ensure that the right drug reaches the right person at the right time in the right condition to meet the medical needs to fight against disease. Anything less than 100% service level is unacceptable. The pharmaceutical industry is facing a series of challenges such as counterfeiting and cold chain management. In addition to these challenges, developed countries like the United States are also dealing with the patent cliff and healthcare reforms. There is a growing oversight by the regulatory authorities across the world to ensure patient safety when it comes to pharmaceuticals. In his presentation, Deshpande will discuss the growth of the pharmaceutical industry focusing on the challenges faced by the supply chain and key areas where companies can improve for the future.
Ryo Masuda, "What Can the Cable TV Industry Learn from the Strengths of Over-The-Top Providers"
One of the biggest concerns for the cable TV (CATV) industry in the United States has been the competition with Over-the-Top providers (OTT). OTT providers like Netflix and Hulu have been successful in penetrating its service in recent years by providing customers with TV content over the internet for a cheaper monthly flat rate. Masuda has analyzed the current fundamental differences in service strategies of CATV and OTT providers and their customer behavior. In his research presentation, Masuda tries to answer the question – “Can the CATV industry really compete with OTT providers and what can we learn from those strengths to develop services in the future?”
Wei Shi, "A Comparison Between the U.S. and China's Credit Card Markets - The Englightenment to the Development of ICBC's Credit Card Business"
Based on a statement of the basic information of China’s credit card market development and a comparison to that of the United States, Shi has researched the main problems that China’s credit card industry currently faces. He has focused especially on the case for the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) by studying market conditions, credit environment, management risks, and regulatory policy, as well as the reasons and causes of these conditions. Based on his findings, Shi proposes suggested solutions that will help to further develop the credit card business at ICBC.
Philippines Conference Room
Research Presentations (3 of 5) - Fukuda, He, Morigaki and Takeda
** We are currently experiencing some problems with our online RSVP system. If you have any difficulty registering for this event, please send an email directly to the organizer, Denise Masumoto, via email masumoto@stanford.edu. Thank you for your cooperation. **
In this session of the Shorenstein APARC Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows Research Presentations, the following will be presented:
Mitsunori Fukuda, "Learning From Regulations About Electricity Supply in California"
In March 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan causing a severe accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. As a result of this accident and an electricity crisis in Japan, it has become increasingly more important to create a more stable and robust electricity supply system. On the other hand, there is a unique electricity supply situation in California. Although the situation is much different from the one in Japan, the California government has also tried to improve its situation by reforming regulations for electricity supply companies. In his research, Fukuda reviews the Japanese electricity supply situation and related regulations. Additionally, he identifies significant learning points for Japanese improvement from the California situation.
Chengbao He, "The Characteristics of Research and Development Management of Large Oil Companies"
Large oil companies play a dominant role in the oil industry, a vast majority of which is integrated with upstream and downstream business. These large oil companies consist of international oil companies (IOCs) and national oil companies (NOCs). Along with the accelerated economic globalization process, competition and cooperation between NOCs and IOCs will be more extensive and diverse. The competition between these enterprises is not only a competition for resources, but more importantly, it is about the technical strength of competition and the ability to develop and deploy new technology. Strengthening the management of research and development (R&D) and improving the efficiency of R&D is the constant goal of each oil company.
In his research, He introduces the typical generation of R&D management mode at present, focuses on the analysis and comparison of R&D management and operation practice of the five well-known large oil companies, namely ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Chevron and CNPC. They have formed their unique management mode, technological advantage and competitive advantage in technology innovation.
Tsutomu Morigaki, "How Do Japanese Electric Companies Expand Business both in Japan and Globally?"
Traditional Japanese electric companies have been struggling with expanding their own businesses as well as their declining international competitiveness in the field. Why is it difficult for Japanese companies to recover and succeed in international markets? Morigaki analyzes the current situation from various points of view such as cultural features, technological trends and the movement of leading companies in the United States. In this presentation, Morigaki provides suggestions on how to make strategies and which fields Japanese electric companies should focus on in the near future.
Toshihiko Takeda, "Enhancing Multiculturalism Through Implementing Immersion Programs in Japan – Learning from Schools in the San Francisco Bay Area"
The United States has accepted generations of immigrants for more than 240 years from all around the globe. While on the opposite shore of the Pacific Ocean, Japan maintains a virtually homogeneous society. However, some local governments in Japan are facing an influx of foreign migrants who need to communicate with new neighbors in many places including classrooms. The United States has a long history of language education for immigrants and its children. Takeda explores various language immersion programs and analyzes good practices in the San Francisco Bay Area and implementation options for Japan.
Philippines Conference Room
Research Presentations (2 of 5) - Osumi, Sakurai, Xie
** We are currently experiencing some problems with our online RSVP system. If you have any difficulty registering for this event, please send an email directly to the organizer, Denise Masumoto, via email masumoto@stanford.edu. Thank you for your cooperation. **
In this session of the Shorenstein APARC Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows Research Presentations, the following will be presented:
Kazuaki Osumi, "A Comparative Study of VCs in the United States and Japan"
There is no doubt that start-ups are one of the most important players for innovation. And venture capital firms (VCs) play a vital role in improving their business. In his research, Osumi tries to find out what the role is for the Japanese government in this area by comparing the differences between VCs in the United States and Japan.
Kenta Sakurai, "Establishing the Optimal System of Patent Examination"
The patent war between Apple and Samsung Electronics, which was big news in the summer of 2012, has been spreading throughout the world, including Europe and Asia. However, this is not the only problem these two companies have. In order to prepare for the other forth-coming patent wars, technology companies are trying to win an “armament race”, acquiring as many patents (“weapons”) as possible. While heating the races, the total number of patent applications filed at the national patent offices has been rapidly increasing over the last decade. As a result, the most serious problem for each of these offices has become examining this flood of applications, creating a trade-off between swiftness and accuracy of examination.
In his presentation, Sakurai argues what is the optimal patent examination process, understanding the importance of both timely patent issuance and deterrence of superfluous provision of “weapons”.
Mao Xie, "Downstream Gas Business Management"
In recent years, the role of natural gas in facilitating low carbon economic growth, energy consumption mix optimization and environmental protection has become more prominent. After the deregulation of the wellhead prices, interstate pipeline regulation and the emergence of the marketers, the United States’ natural gas industry has entered its mature stage and become one of the most developed gas markets in the world.
To develop a strong natural gas business constitutes a key part of constructing a green, internationalized and sustainable PetroChina. Through market environment comparison and case studies involving the downstream area, Xie attempts to understand the best and most appropriate experiences that a state-owned company like PetroChina can learn and apply to its own practices.
Philippines Conference Room
Research Presentations (1 of 5) - Hanai, Nakagawa, Suzuki and Wang
** We are currently experiencing some problems with our online RSVP system. If you have any difficulty registering for this event, please send an email directly to the organizer, Denise Masumoto, via email masumoto@stanford.edu. Thank you for your cooperation. **
In this session of the Shorenstein APARC Corporate Affiliate Visiting Fellows Research Presentations, the following will be presented:
Yasuaki Hanai, "Are Japanese Electric Companies Becoming Obsolete? – Rethinking Strong Points for Japanese Electric Companies
In recent years, it has become very common to take pictures using a smart phone or tablet, such as an iPad, and to share this information via social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Japanese electric companies and products have been noticeably absent from this area, except for the single-lens reflex camera. How has this happened? Why have Japanese electric companies suffered a decline? In his research, Hanai tries to answer these questions by analyzing the financial reports of various Japanese companies after the bubble economy collapse. Hanai also considers strong points for Japanese electric companies and what the next actions should be to reverse the decline.
Saiko Nakagawa, "Systemic Risks in the Japanese Banking Sector"
“Systemic risk” has become a buzzword after the global financial crisis in 2007-08. Due to its elusive nature, there have been active discussions among scholars, international organizations and national regulators on how to measure and address the risk in order to prevent the next crisis. In her presentation, Nakagawa will introduce these recent discussions and argue the implications to Japan’s financial sector.
Masashi Suzuki, "Dismal Software Industry in Japan – Will It Be Disrupted or Will It Discover Its Own Way like U.S. Players?"
In his research, Suzuki provides an historical analysis of the software market in Japan and the United States as well as a comprehensive analysis of the status quo of these two countries. Are there ways to improve the unfavorable situation in Japan? Suzuki attempts to provide an answer to this question in his research presentation.
Bin Wang, "Innovation and New Venture Strategies in China"
In recent years, entrepreneurship has played an increasing role in promoting economic growth in China. The Chinese government began to pay more attention to encourage entrepreneurship in order to reform the economic structure. Wang’s research examines the characteristics of the emerging industry and reveals a positive relationship between innovation capabilities and growth of new venture. He developed a framework to classify new venture strategies based on market characteristics and innovation capabilities, identified ten strategic types, and reviewed their impact on performance in new ventures in China. Wang’s research attempts to provide important guidelines for venture capital to identify potential investment opportunities. These guidelines will also help entrepreneurs to identify an appropriate strategy to pursue business opportunities in given situations.
Philippines Conference Room
Establishing Identity: Documents, Performance, and Biometric Information in Immigration Proceedings
How do we know that a person is what she claims to be? Or how do we make others believe that we are the person that we claim to be? Sociologists have explored these questions by focusing on face-to-face interaction in various everyday settings. This talk concerns the micropolitics of identification in a more formalized and institutionalized setting, specifically in immigration proceedings. Drawing on the literature on bureaucracy, presentation of self, migrant sending communities, and deviance, the speaker examines how immigration bureaucrats seek to establish migrants’ identities in contemporary immigration proceedings; how migrants challenge these dominant identification practices, notably through their involvement in various “illegal” schemes; and what consequences these micropolitical struggles have for both receiving and sending states. The talk is based on a study of the contestations over family-based immigration in South Korea, which have focused on efforts to establish the kinship and marital status of co-ethnic migrants from China (Korean Chinese migrants). The speaker will show how bureaucrats and migrants mobilize various types of “identity tags,” how migrants combine strategic and moral reasoning as they engage in these micropolitical struggles, and how these struggles influence not only immigration policies in the receiving state but also migration brokerage networks and gender and family relations in the sending states. The talk is based on Kim’s award-winning article in Law and Social Inquiry.
Jaeeun Kim is a postdoctoral fellow at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University (2012-2013). Before joining Stanford, she received her PhD degree in sociology from UCLA (2011) and was a postdoctoral research associate at the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University (2011-2012). Her dissertation entitled Colonial Migration and Transborder Membership Politics in Twentieth-Century Korea examines diaspora politics in twentieth-century Korea, focusing on colonial-era ethnic Korean migrants and their descendants in Japan and northeast China. Her dissertation has recently been awarded the Theda Skocpol Best Dissertation Award from the Comparative-Historical Sociology Section of the ASA. Kim’s work has appeared in Theory and Society, Law and Social Inquiry, and European Journal of Sociology. Her article in Law and Social Inquiry, entitled “Establishing Identity: Documents, Performance, and Biometric Information in Immigration Proceedings,” has won the graduate and law students best paper award in 2011. After completing her fellowship term at Stanford, Kim will be Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at George Mason University beginning in the fall 2013.
Philippines Conference Room
Jaeeun Kim
Walter H. Shorenstein
Asia-Pacific Research Center
Encina Hall, Room C332
616 Serra St.
Stanford, CA 94305-6055
Jaeeun Kim was a Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellow at the Walter H. Asia-Pacific Research Center for the 2012–13 academic year. Before coming to Stanford, she was a postdoctoral research associate at the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University for the 2011–12 academic year. She specializes in political sociology, ethnicity and nationalism, and international migration in East Asia and beyond, and is trained in comparative-historical and ethnographic methods.
During her time at Stanford, Kim set out to complete the manuscript of her first book based on her dissertation, entitled Colonial Migration and Transborder Membership Politics in Twentieth-Century Korea. Drawing on archival and ethnographic data collected through 14 months of multi-sited field research in South Korea, Japan, and China, the dissertation analyzes diaspora politics in twentieth-century Korea, focusing on colonial-era ethnic Korean migrants to Japan and northeast China.
In addition, she is planning to further develop her second project on the migration careers, legalization strategies, and conversion patterns of ethnic Korean migrants from northeast China to the United States. The project examines the transpacific flows of people and religious faiths between East Asia and North America through the lens of the intersecting literatures on religion, migration, ethnicity, law, and transnationalism. She has completed ethnographic field research in Los Angeles, New York, and northeast China for this project.
Kim’s publications include articles in Theory and Society, Law and Social Inquiry, and European Journal of Sociology. She has been awarded various fellowships that support interdisciplinary and transnational research projects, including those from the Social Science Research Council, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the American Council of Learned Societies.
Kim was born and grew up in Seoul, South Korea. She holds a BA in law (2001) and an MA in sociology (2003) from Seoul National University, and an MA (2006) and PhD (2011) in sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles. After completing her fellowship term at Stanford, she will be an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at George Mason University, beginning in fall 2013.
Overseas Filipino Workers become economic heroes
Homesickness, long hours, and demanding employers—many Filipinos who migrate to another country for temporary employment make personal sacrifices and face daunting working conditions.
To their family members receiving much-needed supplemental income and to the Philippine government bolstering its foreign reserves, they are the “new heroes.” Remittances from Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), as they are officially called, are now the country’s second largest source of foreign reserves, beating out foreign direct investment in terms of percentage of GDP. The government has even established an annual award to honor its most distinguished OFWs.
Marjorie Pajaron, the current Asia Health Policy Postdoctoral Fellow in Developing Asia, has been studying the significant economic benefit of OFW remittances to Philippine families and to the economy. She spoke recently with Shorenstein APARC about her research, which she will present at a seminar on May 9.
How many people from the Philippines are going abroad for temporary employment, and where are they finding work?
In 2008, OFWs numbered 2 million—representing 2 percent of the country’s total population. Fifty-one percent of these migrants were male, and 49 percent were female. Twenty percent went to Saudi Arabia; 14 percent to the Arab Emirates, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Qatar, and Taiwan; 9 percent to Europe; and 8 percent to North and South America.
Where OFWs work depends on gender, education, and the type of employment. Many men go to the Middle East for construction-, mining-, and oil-related jobs. Women tend to go to Southeast and East Asia for caretaking and domestic jobs. In North America, most Filipino migrants work in professional jobs, including as nurses, doctors, and as other types of healthcare workers.
What is the “typical” profile of an Overseas Filipino Worker?
It often depends on the type of job. Healthcare professionals, for example, tend to be younger because they go abroad directly after graduation. Most of the nursing schools in the Philippines are linked to hospitals in the United States or Europe.
In general, overseas workers range from recent graduates to the median working age, from approximately 20 to 45 years old. Because of the large fixed cost associated with temporary overseas employment, families that are better off or who have the means to raise funds are those that are able to send family members abroad.
Most OFWs come from Manila or the surrounding urban areas. In the study I conducted, only 17 percent of rural households could afford to send a family member abroad. Usually several village families will pool together their resources, with the informal agreement that they will be repaid.
On average, male migrant remittances equal twice the amount sent by female migrants, who more frequently work in unskilled positions. For example, a well-educated man working in the Middle East in the construction and transportation industries earns higher than a woman working in a domestic position in Singapore. Some OFWs are overqualified in terms of education, but because of economic opportunity they decide to work abroad.
Do remittances provide short- or long-term economic benefits for families?
The benefits are both short and long term. Remittances can provide immediate assistance as needed, such as rebuilding after a natural disaster. From a longer-term perspective, many remittances in the Philippines go toward education, which is a form of human capital investment. Many families also invest in real estate, buying houses and land, and they also purchase durable goods, such as cars and appliances.
How do remittances benefit the country’s economy?
After exports, foreign remittances are actually the second largest source of foreign reserves in the Philippines. In 2006, remittances ranked even higher than foreign direct investment in terms of percentage of GDP. Some scholars have conjectured that OFWs have helped close the gap between the poor and the wealthy in the Philippines by contributing to a growing middle class. This is why migrant workers are called the “new heroes.” They sacrifice a lot by working in what are often unfavorable conditions. Because of the system of helping their families, they are also helping the entire country.
In your research, you have also looked at how rural farmers cope with natural disasters. What motivated you to study this issue, and what have you found based on recent years?
Farmers are the poorest of the poor in the Philippines, and since the country is in the Pacific Ring of Fire it is frequently hit by natural disasters, including earthquakes, typhoons, and drought. Filipino farmers are very vulnerable because most cannot afford to install irrigation. Instead, they have to depend on rain and their crops are continually susceptible to changes in the weather. There is limited government assistance available to them, and they do not have any formal insurance. In addition, they cannot take out loans because they do not have the collateral. So, I have been looking at how they survive after a natural disaster. The only possible explanation is that they depend on their networks of family and friends.
I had expected to find that they also depend on their family members abroad, but I have discovered that very few have been able to send relatives abroad in the first place. So this cannot be considered a reliable source of support. Instead, they seem to mainly rely on family members who have migrated to Manila and other cities.
There is much more work to be done on this issue. Studying how rural residents survive is important given they have limited access to formal credit, capital, and insurance markets; and government aid and transfers may also be limited or non-existent.
Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellow wins dissertation award