Defining success through positive development
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I gained my definition of
success through Stanford . . .
-Makoto Takeuchi, 2004-2005
Corporate Affiliates Program fellow
When Makoto Takeuchi came to the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific
Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) as a Corporate Affiliates Program fellow
during the 2004-2005 academic year, he was working as a senior manager with the
Business Development Group of Kansai Electric Power Company, located in Osaka,
Japan. Osaka, part of Japan's Kansai region, is a bustling metropolis and an
important economic and historical center of Japan. Kansai Electric Power
Company is a large energy company that utilizes a combination of energy
sources, including nuclear power, which makes up over 50 percent of its power
supply, as well as thermal (oil, coal, and liquid natural gas) and hydropower.
Takeuchi found the environment of Stanford University, including its situation
in Silicon Valley, stimulating. "I was excited by the diversity and speed of
dynamic innovation in Silicon Valley, and the people who utilize their
knowledge and skills in order to achieve their dreams," he said. Drawing from
this, he carried out a research project exploring complementary strategies for
sustainable corporate growth. He concluded that such sustainable growth comes
from a balance of internal and external resources and short- and long-term
gains, driven by innovation, integration, and interaction.
During his time at Shorenstein APARC, Takeuchi also developed his understanding
of working as a part of a team on a project. "I learned that the success of
projects requires orchestrating the talents and efforts of many people," he
said. He now applies his knowledge of teamwork to the work that he does today,
including the essential skill of communicating with colleagues from different
cultural and professional backgrounds. Being sensitive to the values of others is
crucial when it comes to collaboration, he learned.
Prior to coming to Stanford University, Takeuchi had not yet defined his own idea
of "success." He now measures success by the positive impact that he has on
society, which to him is evidenced by the "smiles on the faces of my customers,
stakeholders, and family." Takeuchi has the opportunity to effect positive
economic and energy development in his new position as a senior energy
specialist with the World Bank's East Asia Sustainable Development Department.
"When I considered how I could make the most of my skills . . . the answer was
to provide clean energy through a sophisticated power system with renewable
energy and to contribute to what people in the region really want," he explained.
In his role with the World Bank, Takeuchi is working toward increasing access
to cleaner energy and laying the foundation for sustainable growth in
developing countries, and, of course, to gain smiles in the process.
For current and future Corporate Affiliates fellows, Takeuchi imparts the
wisdom: "As soon as possible, you should discover the criteria for evaluating
your own success. Then, you should just run toward it!"
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John Everard
No longer in residence.
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2010-2011 Pantech Fellow
John Everard, a retired British diplomat, is now a consultant for the UN.
In October 2006, only a few short months after Everard arrived in Pyongyang to serve as the British ambassador, North Korea conducted its first-ever nuclear test. Everard spent the next two-and-a-half years meeting with North Korean government officials and attending the official events so beloved by the North Korean regime. During this complicated period he provided crucial reports back to the British government on political developments.
He also traveled extensively throughout North Korea, witnessing scenes of daily life experienced by few foreigners: people shopping for food in Pyongyang’s informal street markets, urban residents taking time off to relax at the beach, and many other very human moments. Everard captured such snapshots of everyday life through dozens of photographs and detailed notes.
His distinguished career with the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office spanned nearly 30 years and four continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America), and included a number of politically sensitive posts. As the youngest-ever British ambassador when he was appointed to Belarus (1993 to 1995), he built an embassy from the ground up just a few short years after the fall of the Soviet Union. He also skillfully managed diplomatic relations as the UK ambassador to Uruguay (2001 to 2005) during a period of economic crisis and the country’s election of its first left-wing government.
From 2010 to 2011 Everard spent one year at Stanford University’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, conducting research, writing, and participating in major international conferences on North Korea.
He holds BA and MA degrees in Chinese from Emmanuel College at Cambridge University, and a diploma in economics from Beijing University. Everard also earned an MBA from Manchester Business School, and is proficient in Chinese, Spanish, German, Russian, and French.
An avid cyclist and volunteer, Everard enjoys biking whenever he has the opportunity. He has been known to cycle from his London home to provincial cities to attend meetings of the Youth Hostels Association of England and Wales, of which he was a trustee from 2009 to 2010.
Everard currently resides with his wife in New York City.
Pantech Fellowships, generously funded by Pantech Group of Korea, are intended to cultivate a diverse international community of scholars and professionals committed to and capable of grappling with challenges posed by developments in Korea. We invite individuals from the United States, Korea, and other countries to apply.
Second Annual Symposium on Japanese Entrepreneurship
On November 1, 2010 the 2nd annual Symposium on Japanese Entrepreneurship was held in Tokyo, Japan. The purpose of the symposium was to present insights on entrepreneurship to engage broader Japanese interests and further the national discussion.
The symposium was held jointly by the University of Tokyo and SPRIE-STAJE, and made possible by a joint effort with the Japan Academic Society for Ventures and Entrepreneurs (JASVE) and the Nikkei Shimbun.
Also sponsoring the symposium were Tokyo AIM (the organization of stock exchanges), the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), and the University of Tokyo’s Science Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (SEED) - Division of University Corporate Relations (DUCR).
U.S. Ambassador John Roos made the keynote speech at the symposium. Presenting panels on "Risk Money, the Role of Venture Capital, and Exit Strategies" and "Entrepreneurship Education: Help for Japan's Entrepreneurs?" were academic, business and government participants from Keidanren, Sumitomo Corporation, Mitsubishi Estate Corporation, AZCA and the University of Tokyo Enterprise Center, in addition to scholars from Stanford and other universities, including the University of Tokyo.
Following the public symposium, on November 2, there was a closed academic conference with presentation and discussion of new papers in support of the project.
Hitotsubashi Memorial Auditorium
Tokyo, Japan
Symposiums
Study calls for sheltering-in-place in the event of nuclear attack
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Stanford University experts, led by CISAC affiliated faculty member Lawrence M. Wein, have concluded that in the event of a nuclear detonation, people in large metropolitan areas are better off sheltering-in-place in basements for 12-24 hours, rather than trying to evacuate immediately, unless a lengthy warning period is provided.
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India takes center stage at the Copenhagen Business School
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Rafiq Dossani, senior research scholar at Shorenstein APARC, visited the Copenhagen Business School (CBS), September 2-3, 2010. Dossani first spoke at a meeting of the CBS India Study Group about the surge in the past five years of India-focused research and teaching at Stanford University. He then presented a public lecture about higher education in India. On September 3, he led a seminar with Anothy P. D'Costa, professor of the Copenhagen Business School, about India's soft power strategy in the face of today's globalized world.
Dossani will be presenting on September 17, 2010 at an entrepreneurship workshop organized by the Silicon Valley Chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs. He has also been appointed co-chair of the Industry Studies Association's Annual Conference for 2011.
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PESD releases study of Nigeria's national oil company NNPC
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Nigeria’s national oil company NNPC is at the center of a profoundly dysfunctional oil sector in a country that some argue embodies the “resource curse.” In a new study, PESD Associate Director Mark C. Thurber and PESD affiliated researchers Ifeyinwa Emelife and Patrick Heller find that NNPC’s persistent underperformance stems from its role as the linchpin of a sophisticated and durable system of patronage.
Abstract
Nigeria depends heavily on oil and gas, with hydrocarbon activities providing around 65 percent of total government revenue and 95 percent of export revenues. While Nigeria supplies some LNG to world markets and is starting to export a small amount of gas to Ghana via pipeline, the great majority of the country's hydrocarbon earnings come from oil. In 2008, Nigeria was the 5th largest oil exporter and 10th largest holder of proved oil reserves in the world according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The country's national oil company NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) sits at the nexus between the many interests in Nigeria that seek a stake in the country's oil riches, the government, and the private companies that actually operate the vast majority of oil and gas projects.
Through its many divisions and subsidiaries, NNPC serves as an oil sector regulator, a buyer and seller of oil and petroleum products, a technical operator of hydrocarbon activities on a limited basis, and a service provider to the Nigerian oil sector. With isolated exceptions, NNPC is not very effective at performing its various oil sector jobs. It is neither a competent oil company nor an efficient regulator for the sector. Managers of NNPC's constituent units, lacking the ability to reliably fund themselves, are robbed of business autonomy and the chance to develop capability. There are few incentives for NNPC employees to be entrepreneurial for the company's benefit and many incentives for private action and corruption. It is no accident that NNPC operations are disproportionately concentrated on oil marketing and downstream functions, which offer the best opportunities for private benefit. The few parts of NNPC that actually add value, like engineering design subsidiary NETCO, tend to be removed from large financial flows and the patronage opportunities they bring.
Although NNPC performs poorly as an instrument for maximizing long-term oil revenue for the state, it actually functions well as an instrument of patronage, which helps to explain its durability. Each additional transaction generated by its profuse bureaucracy provides an opportunity for well-connected individuals to profit by being the gatekeepers whose approval must be secured, especially in contracting processes. NNPC's role as distributor of licenses for export of crude oil and import of refined products also helps make it a locus for patronage activities. Corruption, bureaucracy, and non-market pricing regimes for oil sales all reinforce each other in a dysfunctional equilibrium that has proved difficult to dislodge despite repeated efforts at oil sector reform.
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