A recent review published in International Migration Review (IMR) lauded “Global Talent: Skilled Labor as Social Capital in Korea,” by Stanford professor Gi-Wook Shin and Joon Nak Choi. IMR reviewer Keumjae Park said the book makes an important contribution to the literature on foreign skilled workers and the problems that countries like South Korea face with demographic and economic change.
Park said the book “offers provocative policy questions” about how South Korea can encourage the development of social and cultural ties in its highly skilled labor markets, which in turn, support local and transnational markets through spread of information, innovation and trust.
Park also highlights the book’s approachability, saying it “offers theoretical lessons for general research” while it “invites attention of policy makers and business strategists.”
“Global Talent” is a part of Korea’s Global Talent, an ongoing research project at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center. The project analyzes the potential benefits of transnational bridges between South Korea and the United States, and aims to provide insights that could be applied to other Asian countries.
Read the full review below and on the IMR website.
Four scholars from Stanford University participated in a public panel discussion on Silicon Valley and Asian economies last month, part of a filming for an NHK Broadcasting series that aims to bring opinion leaders together to discuss issues facing contemporary Japan. The panel event will debut online this Friday.
“Silicon Valley is known worldwide as a place for many new innovative ideas, individuals and companies,” said Takeo Hoshi, director of the Japan Program at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC). “Such economic dynamism is what many countries and regions across the world want to imitate. This is especially true for Asian economies.”
During the hour-long event, Hoshi moderates a discussion between William Barnett, a professor of business leadership, strategy and organizations at the Graduate Business School; Francis Fukuyama, the director of the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law; and Kenji Kushida, a research associate of Shorenstein APARC’s Japan Program.
The panel set out to consider how Silicon Valley realized success and its implications for Asian countries that seek to develop similar innovation-based economies. Panelists started by offering a single keyword that represents Silicon Valley in their own definition. They are: harness, social capital, and failure.
“The question that everyone is interested in is how to make use of Silicon Valley,” Kushida said. “How to ‘harness’ the innovation ecosystem that works fairly well here.”
A key component of Silicon Valley’s success is the high level of social capital found in the region, the panelists said.
“The level of informal cooperation…is higher than in other parts of the country,” Fukuyama explained. Silicon Valley has a norm of reciprocity and lacks extensive business contracts that impede fluidity of ideas, he said.
The panelists also explored the impact of government policy. They said that it provides an essential service in supplying a framework – at least initially – from which innovation-based economic activities can emerge.
“The government needs to set up a playing field upon which firms and entrepreneurs…can do the unimaginable,” Barnett said.
The U.S. government played an important role in a number of defense-related projects that led to the formation of new technologies, including the Internet. However, a government role “cannot smother and be too directive,” Fukuyama said.
Kushida notes that he leads a research project that looks at the institutional foundations of Silicon Valley and offers lessons applicable to Japan. Last year, Kushida and Hoshi authored a report with three other scholars that identifies six institutional factors that encourage innovation, and what the Japanese government can do to encourage development of a more effective innovation ecosystem.
Culture can play a powerful role, too, the panelists explained. They described how both organizational and national cultures can foster or impinge upon innovation.
Barnett said it may be “cool” to be an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, but in Japanese culture, for example, it is the opposite. Barnett has studied entrepreneurs in Japan and has written many publications about how organizations and industries evolve globally.
Approaches to overcoming hard-fastened barriers to innovation include developing a culture of trust and acceptance toward failure, the panelists explained. Yet, they also cautioned against attempts to copy Silicon Valley too closely.
“I don’t think we should take this Silicon Valley gospel for granted – that disruption is always great and that things will always be necessarily better in social terms,” Fukuyama said.
The panelists recognize the outgrowth of high-tech areas in other areas around the world, and note that it is impossible to predict what innovations will come next and their impact on humanity.
The panel event was broadcast and live-tweeted with #SVAsia on Friday, March 4, from 4:10-5:00 p.m. (PST). The video can be viewed on demand here.
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Stanford's Takeo Hoshi (far left) moderates a panel discussion between Kenji Kushida, Francis Fukuyama and William Barnett focused on Silicon Valley and Asian economies. The event was filmed for the NHK Broadcasting program, Global Agenda, and will air in March.
Globalization has lifted more than one billion people out of extreme poverty, but as inequality and barriers to trade remain worldwide, improved trade standards are needed and the Trans-Pacific Partnership promises to be a primary conduit of those standards, America’s top trade official told a Stanford audience on Tuesday.
The TPP seeks to liberalize trade and investment between 12 Pacific Rim countries. Signed earlier this month, the document now faces the path to ratification through its members.
“In today’s rapidly globalizing world, the alternative to the TPP is not the status quo,” Froman told nearly one hundred affiliates and guests at the Bechtel Conference Center.
Froman cited efforts by various countries to build up alternative frameworks that promote free trade, but said they miss some components of stability and longevity that the TPP offers. For example, China’s 'one belt, one road' initiative and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a negotiation between 16 Asian countries.
The TPP would serve as an important benchmark for countries seeking to expand economic gains from trade and to level up on common “rules of the road.” He said increase in exports to the United States alone is estimated at $350 billion a year.
“Smart trade agreements like the TPP are how we shape globalization the right way,” Froman said with a call for continued U.S. leadership on the matter.
President Obama has been a strong advocate of the agreement, in line with the administration’s ‘rebalance to Asia’ strategy. The rebalance is a regional strategy that aims to recognize the growing importance of the Asia-Pacific region to U.S. national interests.
Successful passage of the TPP will reassure allies in the region of American staying power, he said.
Countries outside of the TPP have begun to express interest in becoming a party to the agreement. South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia are among them. Application to join the TPP is now closed, but we can “expect over time” that its membership would grow, he said.
At a 2013 conference, FSI scholars examined the potential impact on Taiwan should it seek membership. Outcomes from the conference are published in this report.
Froman said the TPP supports “commerce without borders” among key sectors in the United States, in particular, those found in and around Silicon Valley.
“No state stands to benefit more from the TPP than California,” he said.
Froman announced the release of a report that details TPP provisions focused exclusively on technology and intellectual property.
Hiroshi “Hiro” Saijou is CEO and Managing Director at Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley. Prior to founding YMVSV, Hiro was a Division Manager at Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA where he led exploratory efforts in Silicon Valley. Hiro started his career at Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. (Iwata, Japan) where he worked for almost two decades on a broad array of surface mount technology and robotics efforts in addition to new business development efforts. Hiro enjoys exploring the California Bay Area, sometimes with his golf clubs. He speaks at conferences frequently on bold, ambitious, sometimes crazy corporate innovation. Hiro earned a software engineering degree from Kyushu University, one of Japan’s National Seven Universities.
SEMINAR DESCRIPTION
The introduction of Yamaha Motor's business development effort utilizing Silicon Valley Ecosystem. Growth of business and corporation to deliver more value to the society is essential desire for all of us, but there are so many options to be taken. In this presentation, we will share our thoughts and experience; what is our objectives, how Yamaha Motor started this business development tasks, why we need to incorporate Yamaha Motor Ventures and how we did it, what are our ongoing ambitious / unique / crazy projects.
AGENDA
4:15pm: Doors open 4:30pm-5:30pm: Talk and Discussion 5:30pm-6:00pm: Networking
Masa ISHII is founder and a Managing Director of AZCA, Inc., a management consulting firm specializing in US-Japan corporate development for high technology companies. To date, AZCA has helped numerous companies in Japan and US in developing their new business across the Pacific Ocean. Masa is also a Managing Director of AZCA Venture Partners, a venture capital firm whose most recent fund specializes in the domain where IT/Electronics and Life science converge. Formerly, Masa worked at McKinsey & Company, Inc. and at IBM. Masa is a frequent speaker and writer on issues involving international business development in the high technology industry.He is a visiting professor at Waseda University Business School and at Graduate School of Engineering, Shizuoka University. Masa holds a Bachelor of Engineering in mathematical engineering and instrumentation physics from the University of Tokyo and a Master of Science in computer science from Stanford University.
SEMINAR DESCRIPTION:
It was in early 1970s that Japanese companies first started interacting with Silicon Valley. As Silicon Valley grew, many Japanese companies started trying to work with high-tech start-ups in Silicon Valley with the purpose of innovating and developing new businesses. More recently, start-up companies and SMEs from Japan have started taking root in Silicon Valley by fully taking advantage of its high technology infrastructure. In doing so, however, many Japanese companies failed to achieve their strategic goals. These hard-learned lessons over time are bound to be forgotten as the new generation of Japanese companies attempt to enter the Silicon Valley’s ecosystem unless they are recorded and the memory is institutionalized. Having lived and worked between Japan and Silicon Valley over the past 30 years, the speaker will share an insider's view of large firms, start-ups and entrepreneurs since the 1970s and his direct experience and reminiscence in dealing with companies in Japan and Silicon Valley, so that the long-built up experience of firms entering this region for the last 40 years can prove to be of benefit to others in the future.
This event is co-sponsored by NHK WORLD, Global Agenda, and the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law.
About NHK and Global Agenda
NHK WORLD is NHK's international broadcast service. NHK is Japan’s national public broadcasting corporation and operates international television, radio, and internet services; together, they are known as NHK WORLD.
The aims of NHK WORLD are:
To provide both domestic and international news to the world accurately and promptly
To present information on Asia from various perspectives, making the best use of NHK's global network
To serve as a vital information lifeline in the event of major accidents and natural disasters
To present broadcasts with great accuracy and speed on many aspects of Japanese culture and lifestyles, recent developments in society and politics, the latest scientific and industrial trends, and Japan's role and opinions regarding important global issues
To foster mutual understanding between Japan and other countries and promote friendship and cultural exchange
“Global Agenda” is a new program within NHK WORLD TV where world opinion leaders discuss various issues facing Japan and the rest of the world today.
Symposium Overview
Innovation is essential for economic growth, especially in advanced economies. As the catch-up phase of economic growth is ending or has ended for many Asian economies, they face the challenge of transforming their economic systems to ones that encourage innovations and use those as the most important source for growth. The panel will discuss various issues surrounding the economic system that is favorable for innovations. Silicon Valley, where Stanford University is located, has an ecosystem that is conducive to innovations. The panel will pay special attention to implications for Japan and other Asian economies.
Panelists
William Barnnett, Professor of Business Leadership, Strategy, and Organizations, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Francis Fukuyama, Director, Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, Freeman Spogli Insititute for International Studies
Takeo Hoshi, Director, Japan Program, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Kenji Kushida, Research Associate, Japan Program, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Note
This event will be recorded and broadcast worldwide. By registering to attend you hereby grant Stanford University and NHK World permission to use encode, digitize, copy, edit, excerpt, transmit, and display the audio or videotape of your participation in this event as well as use your name, voice, likeness, biographic information, and ancillary material in connection with such audio or videotape. You understand that this event will be broadcast worldwide, which will be available to the general public. This event may also be webcast over one or more websites. By registering to attend you grant, without limitations, perpetual rights for the use and transmission and display of audio or videotape of this event. This permission is irrevocable and royalty free, and you understand that the University and NHK will act in reliance on this permission.
RSVP
RSVP for this event is mandatory as seating is limited. Doors will open at 3:00pm and the event will begin promptly at 3:30pm. Since the event is being recorded, we ask that participants arrive on time.
William Barnnett
Professor of Business Leadership, Strategy, and Organizations- Graduate School of Business
Francis Fukuyama
Director, Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law- FSI
Takeo Hoshi
Director, Japan Program- Shorenstein APARC
Kenji Kushida
Research Associate, Japan Program- Shorenstein APARC
This paper is examines the evolution of Japan’s capital markets and the related regulatory reforms after the Global Financial Crisis. We start by looking at the importance of capital markets in the Japanese financial system. We study how the size of financial flows through capital markets relative to those through the banking sector changed since the 1980s in Section 2. Then, in Section 3, we look at how Japan’s financial system responded to the Global Financial Crisis. We find that the disruption of the financial system in Japan was small. Section 4 then surveys the financial regulatory changes in Japan since the Global Financial Crisis. While the Japanese regulators tightened the regulation to improve the financial stability as the regulators in the U.S. and Europe did, they also continued the efforts to develop capital markets in Japan. The efforts continue and receive strong endorsement from Abenomics, which put an emphasis on economic structural reform to restore growth in Japan. We examine the capital market policies in Abenomics in Section 5. Section 6 concludes.
Joseph Z. Perkins, a partner in Orrick's Silicon Valley office, is a member of the Technology Companies Group, which advises emerging companies and venture capital firms. Mr. Perkins focuses his practice on providing private venture financing and merger and acquisition services to Internet, high tech, and clean technology companies in the United States and Japan.
Some of Mr. Perkins's current and former clients include the following: • Bleacher Report (Sports media; acquired by Turner Broadcasting) • Doki Doki (stealth) • FOVE (Virtual reality hardware) • Getaround (Car sharing community) • Instagram (Photo social media; acquired by Facebook) • iSpace (Robotics) • Life360 (Family connectivity and safety) • Orchestra - aka Mailbox (e-mail management; acquired by Dropbox) • Ooma (VoiP hardware) • Pinterest (Social Media) • Say Media - fka VideoEgg (Advertising) • Social Finance (social lending) • UniversityNow (Online education) • WHILL (Personal Mobility)
Prior to receiving his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, Mr. Perkins spent four years as an officer of a company that provides language and travel services to Japanese travelers.
Seminar Description
The idea of raising money through venture capital can be daunting if you’ve never gone through that process before. In this presentation, we will discuss various aspects of the fundraise process, including how to choose your investor and prepare for a term sheet, key terms to look for in the financing, and how to get to close as quickly as possible. Learn about different types of investors, what they look for in their potential investments, and what they bring to the table in accelerating a startup’s growth. We’ll also review specific scenarios and how various liquidation preferences can impact your company’s exit.
A conference that honored the life and scholarly contributions of Stanford economist Masahiko Aoki was held at Stanford. Dozens of friends, family and community members paid tribute to Aoki, the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Professor of Japanese Studies and Professor of Economics, emeritus, who died in July at the age of 77.
Eleven renowned economists and social scientists gave talks on Aoki’s extensive fields of research in economic theory, institutional analysis, corporate governance, and the Japanese and Chinese economies at the Dec. 4 conference, which was followed by a memorial ceremony the next day.
“When we contacted people to speak at this conference, few people turned us down,” said Stanford professor Takeo Hoshi. “The reason for this is Masa. It shows how much Masa was respected and how much his work is valued.”
The events were hosted by the Japan Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), Graduate School of Business, Department of Economics and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR).
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Aoki came to Stanford in 1967 as an assistant professor, held faculty appointments at Kyoto University and Harvard, and returned to Stanford in 1984. He retired to emeritus status at Stanford in 2005.
Throughout the conference, Aoki was described as an astute professor and colleague, valuable mentor and loyal friend by the many speakers and participants who shared works, stories and multimedia featuring their interactions with Aoki.
Aoki pioneered the field of comparative institutional analysis (CIA) with a team of scholars at Stanford: Avner Greif, John Litwack, Paul Milgrom and Yingyi Qian, among others. CIA analyzes and compares different institutions that evolve to regulate different societies.
Masahiko Aoki (far left) is pictured with colleagues on the Stanford campus in the late 1960s.
“Masa had a good background in looking at the economy as a whole, financial institutions as a whole – not just how numbers or actors economically interact – but also the people who interact within a given institutional framework,” said Koichi Hamada, a professor emeritus at Yale University.
“Masa had a good background in looking at the economy as a whole, financial institutions as a whole – not just how numbers or actors economically interact…”
-Koichi Hamada, Yale University
Aoki applied a systematic lens to everything he studied, a “take society as a total entity” approach, Hamada said.
Aoki grew up in Japan, and developed a deep interest in Japanese politics at an early age. He was actively involved in student movements in the early 1960s, at the heart of which was a campaign against a controversial U.S.-Japan security treaty. China became another great interest of his as the country began to undergo economic transformation and modernization.
Throughout his career, Aoki traveled to Japan and China often, and sought to better inform policy debates by engaging scholars, government leaders and journalists there.
He believed in sharing lessons learned from his own scholarly analyses on what constitute institutions, particularly the “people” aspects – the employees, their cognitive abilities and levels of participation.
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Top left to right: Yingyi Qian of Tsinghau University talks with Avner Greif of Stanford University and Hugh Patrick of Columbia University. / Koichi Hamada of Yale University delivers his remarks titled "Masahiko Aoki: A Social Scientist." Bottom: Reiko Aoki, the wife of Masahiko Aoki, listens in to Kenneth Arrow, a professor emeritus at Stanford University. Credit: Rod Searcey
Aoki was not only a scholar of institutions but also a builder of them.
“Amid a time of diplomatic tensions between China and Japan…Masa was able to bring Japanese, Chinese and American economists together to study and do research,” said Yingyi Qian, dean and professor at the school of economics and management at Tsinghua.
At Stanford, Aoki played a leading role in the creation of the Stanford Japan Center and a multi-day conference that convened annually in Kyoto on issues of mutual concern between Asia-Pacific countries and the United States.
“Masa Aoki’s legacy will serve as an integral guidepost for many years to come. May his soul rest in peace.”
-Kotaro Suzumura, Hitotsubashi University
Earlier this year, Aoki was hospitalized for lung disease. Even at that stage, he worked tirelessly to revise a paper that examines the institutional development of China and Japan in the late 19th to early 20th centuries.
Aoki was also fondly remembered for his mentorship of students at Stanford and other universities he taught at.
“He was an original and unique professor – quite different from others that I’ve met in many respects. He was generous with his time, not hierarchical,” said Miguel Angel Garcia Cestona, who studied for a doctorate at Stanford and now teaches at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.
Garcia Cestona, among other former students, spoke of Aoki as a friend and shared memories of their former professor hosting them at his home.
Kenji Kushida will provide an overview of canonical works of Silicon Valley, including work of Martin Kenney and his classic co-edited volume "Understanding Silicon Valley" and other more recent work drawn from the Stanford Silicon Valley - New Japan project’s "Top Ten Reading List of Silicon Valley." He will also share insights from a recent report co-authored with Richard Dasher, Nobuyuki Harada, Takeo Hoshi, and Tetsuji Okazaki entitled "Institutional Foundations for Growth" which partially draws from research on Silicon Valley.
Kanetaka Maki will present his new research from a paper entitled "Milestones to University-Based Startup Success: What Is the Impact of Academic Inventor Involvement?” Based on the data analysis of 533 University of California startups, he will explain the impact of inventor involvement in the growth and success of university-based startups.
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