Research Presentations (session 1 of 5) - Fang, Fukuda and Takeshita

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

Liang Fang, China Sunrain Solar Energy Company, "Comparison of Mobile Internet Innovation between U.S. and China's Internet Companies"

The rapid penetration of smartphones in China has stimulated the innovation in mobile internet and therefore resulted in many new business models.  Today, China is highly developed in some areas like e-commerce, mobile commerce, social media and O2O (offline to online sales) based on the characteristic of China’s online world.  Other factors that are stimulating China’s speed of innovation in mobile internet are 1) economics of scale based on high numbers of users, 2)  a large supply of software engineers and ambitious entrepreneurs, and 3) the government’s encouragement for national innovation.  Fang has applied case-study methods to analyze several of China’s most innovative internet companies and compare them with players in the U.S.  Fang also tracked a few representatives Chinese internet companies which have moved beyond China to enter the U.S. market.  According to his findings, Fang tried to answer the question of “How differently are current Chinese internet companies from their peers in the U.S. in aspects of innovation?” and “How far will Chinese internet companies go beyond the China market with their own innovation?”

Wataru Fukuda, Shizuoka Prefectural Government, "Promotional Strategies and Tactics in the Tourism Market, Focusing on Practices in the U.S."

In 2014, nearly 900,000 Americans visited Japan.  However, only 2-3% of those travelers visited the Shizuoka area, which is located between Tokyo and Kyoto – two of the most favorites areas to visit in Japan.  Shizuoka has the largest number of Japanese Inns (Ryokan), and the fourth largest market share of Japanese travelers.  With the tourism resources and an ideal location, which is frequently accessed from Tokyo and Kyoto, Shizuoka has a huge potential to expand the market share.  In his research, the statistical framework first identified the demographics profile and the characteristics of American travelers to Japan.  Within the luxury market, there is a growing number of affluent millenials who are looking for authentic experiences in their travels.  Fukuda has researched the possibilities of developing an inbound tourism market in Japan, specifically in Shizuoka, learning from practices in the United States.  His research identifies the affluent millenials as specific potential customers for the next decade and investigates the possibilities of the tourism resources in Shizuoka to satisfy their wants and needs.

Ryuichiro Takeshita, The Asahi Shimbun, "Should Human Beings or Computer Algorithms Be the Editors of News? - A Case Study of SmartNews (a Tokyo-based media start-up)"

SmartNews is a Japanese news aggregation app which expanded its service to the United States in 2014. The app is beautifully designed and readers can enjoy a mix of news stories from different publishers such as CNN, NBC News, Wired, Etc.  Instead of human editors deciding which news to put on page one, SmartNews uses computer algorithms to collect and distribute news.  The computer program cannot only analyze social media, but is able to track down how and when people read news.  Therefore, instead of relying on human intuition and experience, it can calculate which article will be most “important” to the mass audience.  Is this a kind of artificial intelligence and a defeat of human knowledge?  Is it using technology to generate collective intelligence?  Takeshita will illustrate the race against machines in the media industry and try to figure out how human beings could build an ideal relationship with machines.