Junior Fellow Chien-Ju Lee Receives Taiwan-Japan Economic and Culture Exchange Research Award

Dr. Chien-Ju Lee, a Junior Fellow of the School of Business Administration, has received the Taiwan-Japan Economic and Culture Exchange Research Award. The award is presented by the Taiwan-Japan Economic and Culture Exchange Association to young researchers for outstanding research that promotes exchange between Japan and Taiwan. The award was given to Dr. Lee for his study "Knowledge transformation mechanisms in international strategic alliances: The case study of FamilyMart in Taiwan"^* and in recognition of his many years of in-depth research in the area of Japan/Taiwan exchange.

Dr. Lee came to Japan in 2015 after receiving his bachelor's degree from the National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan. He received a scholarship from the Interchange Association (now the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association) and began his research activities as a foreign researcher at the Graduate School of Commerce and Management (now the School of Business Administration), where he earned his master's and doctoral degrees, and last year became a junior fellow. In this interview, he talks about the award and reflects on his research life at Hitotsubashi University.

Q: Please tell us about your research.

In the master's program, I studied the expansion of Japanese companies into China. Later, in the Ph.D. program, I started researching Japanese companies' expansion into Taiwan. The subject of the paper that won this year's Taiwan-Japan Economic and Culture Exchange Research Award is FamilyMart's expansion into Taiwan, but I have also studied the nearly 40-year strategic alliances between Toyota Motor Corporation and Hotai Motors Corporation, and the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi joint venture between the Mitsukoshi Group and the Shin Kong Group, which began in 1991.

Q: What have you found through your research?

Taiwan FamilyMart began with its first store in 1988 and has grown to over 4,000 stores. The Chairman of Taiwan FamilyMart, Jin Ting Pan, holds a master's degree from Tsukuba University, so he has a deep understanding of Japan. Such mutual understanding with local partners is essential when Japanese companies expand overseas. My research has revealed the mechanism by which the knowledge developed by Japanese firms from their experience doing business in Japan can be converted for success in local markets. My 6 years of research on Taiwan FamilyMart have allowed me to explore this mechanism, as well as my other research on the joint ventures between Taiwanese partners and Toyota Motor Corporation and Mitsukoshi Department Store.

For Japanese companies, expanding overseas requires adapting to a different business environment, especially in China, where there are significant institutional differences. Taiwan and China are also different, and I have found that it is more effective for Japanese companies to first gain experience and success in the Taiwanese market before entering the Chinese market. This experience allows Japanese companies to establish themselves more smoothly in China. This can be said to be the formula for Japanese companies to succeed in markets where Chinese business culture is observed.

Q: You have been doing research at Hitotsubashi University in Japan for a long time. How do you evaluate your research life at Hitotsubashi?

I wanted to study at Hitotsubashi because "Hitotsubashi" is a famous university known by many people in Taiwan, and its education in business administration is especially highly regarded. My main supervisor was Professor Masatoshi Fujiwara, and my sub-supervisor was Professor Minoru Shimamoto. I am truly grateful to both of them for training me in Hitotsubashi's educational policy of "dialogue between theory and practice."

Although I had passed the N1 level of the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) before coming to Japan, I had difficulties with advanced academic writing for research. Fortunately, I was able to compensate for my language handicap with the help of the Japanese tutoring system provided by the university and, furthermore, with help from the students of the Faculty of Commerce and Management, and the Graduate School of Commerce and Management (now the School of Business Administration).

In addition, on campus there are graduate students and researchers from many different countries, which provides a great opportunity to exchange diverse opinions. On top of that, various international workshops are held at the Institute of Innovation Research, where I can also network with overseas researchers.

Q: What are your future research plans?

This year, I have worked on some scholarly articles, which have been accepted. For the rest of this year, I plan to give presentations at academic conferences in Japan and abroad. Each conference has its own characteristics, so it is important to prepare carefully for each one. I would like to continue to conduct research that can guide the development of Japanese companies in overseas markets, starting with Taiwan.

* Lee, C-J. (2021). Knowledge transformation mechanism in international strategic alliance: The case study of FamilyMart in Taiwan. Journal of Business Management, 47, 87-100. https://doi.org/10.24472/keieijournal.47.0_87