Ibata-Arens, Kathryn (Kathryn C. Ibata-Arens)

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Ibata-Arens, Kathryn (Kathryn C. Ibata-Arens)

PERSONAL:

Education: DePaul University, B.A. (with distinction), 1991; Northwestern University, Ph.D., 2001.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Political Science, DePaul University, 990 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL 60614-2458. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Political scientist, educator, and writer. Rosary College (now Dominican University), River Forest, IL, summer lecturer, 1994; Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, lecturer, 1995-2000; DePaul University, Chicago, IL, assistant professor in the department of political science, 2003—. Also CIC visiting scholar at the University of Chicago, 1995-96.

MEMBER:

American Political Science Association, Association of Asian Studies, International Studies Association, Pi Sigma Alpha.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Vice President of Student Life Leadership Award, 1989-90; recipient of numerous fellowships, including Fulbright graduate research fellow, 1997-98; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) postdoctoral fellow, 2002; and Social Science Research Council (SSRC)/Japan Foundation Abe Fellow, 2005-06. Recipient of research grants.

WRITINGS:

Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Japan: Politics, Organizations, and High Technology Firms, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kathryn Ibata-Arens is a political scientist who has conducted extensive research into the politics and economy of Japan. In her first book, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Japan: Politics, Organizations, and High Technology Firms, the author examines the struggles of entrepreneurs and civic-minded leaders to foster innovative economic activity following the strong recession that Japan experienced in the 1990s. In her analysis of the strategy of firms, communities, and local government to bring about economic change and advancement, the author provides case studies of technology manufacturers in Japan and of biotech clusters in America as well. In her book, Ibata-Arens also identifies key lessons for businesses grappling with an economy that needs to undergo a forceful change even as she discusses failures, such as the government's failure to effectively foster innovation at most of Japan's small-and medium-sized businesses. Overall, the author's findings are based on extensive interviews with forty-three firms in Japan. "This study looks beneath the hood of the economy to ask how innovation takes place in high-tech, small- and medium-sized manufacturing firms, asking what promotes or hinders their innovative behaviour," wrote Edward J. Lincoln in a review of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Japan in Pacific Affairs. "As an economist, I find it very refreshing to read about the messy details of what happens at the firm level."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Pacific Affairs, spring, 2006, Edward J. Lincoln, review of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Japan: Politics, Organizations, and High Technology Firms, p. 124.