FASS Staff Profile

DR HENDRIK MEYER-OHLE
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT of JAPANESE STUDIES

Appointment:
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Office:
AS8/05-06
Email:
meyerohle@nus.edu.sg
Tel:
6516 8942
Fax:
6776 1409
Homepage:
http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/jpsmohc/
Tabs

Brief Introduction

Born in 1965, Osnabrück, Germany
Studied Business Administration and Japanese Studies at Philipps University Marburg (Double Degree)
1991: Diplom-Kaufmann (University Degree in Business Administration)
1992: Magister Artium (Japanese Studies)
1993-1994: scholarship recipient at the German Institute for Japanese Studies
April-September 1994: Research associate at the Japan Centre - Philipps University Marburg
1994: Dr. phil. Philipps University Marburg with dissertation on the dynamics of Japanese retail trade
February 1995 - 1999: Senior Research Fellow at the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ), Tokyo
January 2000 - June 2005: Assistant Professor Department of Japanese Studies - National University of Singapore
July 2005 - Associate Professor Department of Japanese Studies - National University of Singapore
August 2005 - December 2007 Assistant Dean (Graduate Studies and Research) - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences NUS
January 2007 - December 2007 Acting Head - Department of Japanese Studies - National University of Singapore
January 2008 - December 2008 Sabbatical - Ritsumeikan University (Kyoto) - College of Business Administration
January 2009 - December 2010 Vice Dean (Graduate Studies/International Relations) - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences NUS
January 2011 - June 2015 Head - Department of Japanese Studies NUS
January 2016 - December 2016 Sabbatical - Visiting Scholar, Waseda University (Tokyo) - Graduate School of Economics


Teaching Areas

  • JS1101e Introduction to Japanese Studies
  • JS2101 Approaches to Japanese Studies I
  • JS2221 Organization of Japanese Business
  • JS2225 Marketing and Consumer Culture in Japan
  • JS2226 Global City Tokyo
  • JS2230 Itadakimasu: Food in Japan
  • JS3222 Japanese Business Management
  • JS3227 Selfmade - Entrepreneurship in Japan
  • JS4227 Japanese Political Economy

Current Research

Internationalization of Human Resources and Diversity in Japanese Companies

Japanese companies have begun to systematically recruit foreign employees into their operations in Japan. I am investigating this new trend under the issues of international human resources management, workplace diversity, migration brokerage and international talent mobility. This project is being conducted in collaboration with Harald Conrad from the University of Sheffield.

Shopping Centers as Places of Marketing and Consumption

The number of shopping centers has been increasing rapidly in Japan over the last decade with developers in an intensifying competition constantly testing the frontiers in terms of locations, size, or tenant mix. The development of shopping centers is taking place in a climate of an aging and shrinking population, economic uncertainties and increasing differentiation within Japanese society and between metropolitan centers and the rest of Japan. Thus with this project I not only want to look at the managerial techniques of shopping center development in Japan but also want to look at shopping centers as places that mirror and to a certain degree also drive the above developments. A sabbatical in Japan provided me with the opportunity to visit a large number of shopping centers and inner city shopping districts.

Japanese Workplaces in Transition

In this project I looked at  changes in Japanese workplaces from the 1990s onwards. Here I employed an innovative research approach by combining traditional research sources with accounts of restructuring as found in online diaries (blogs). In their online diaries employees provide vivid accounts of experience at their work places and talk about their concerns and motivations in an employment system that is showing signs of grave changes. In this project I looked at employee perspectives on three areas, the downsizing of corporations, changes in employment conditions for regular employees and the increasing number of non-regularly employed people and substantiated the findings from blog accounts through survey results from Japanese government agencies and think tanks. (Book details below)

Consumer Goods Distribution: especially Retailing

In the study of the Japanese distribution system I am looking at several areas: The first area is the development of Japanese retail formats. In my book "Dynamics and Innovation in Japanese Retailing (details see below) I trace the development of retail formats in Japan from the 1950s, beginning with the introduction of techniques such as self-service and chain management and leading to the conceptualization of food supermarkets, general merchandising stores, drug stores, home centers, and convenience stores. In looking at these developments I find it of special importance to look at changes in the environment. For Japan emphasis has to be given to governmental distribution policy and I have especially looked at the political economy of the retail sector. Another major factor are manufacturer-retailer relationships. Japanese manufacturers have long strived for a dominance of their distribution channels and were slow in accepting mass-merchandisers as legitimate sales channels for their products. Since the 1990s various changes have occurred in the relationship between retailers and manufacturers and I have tried to analyze these changes at an early stage. However, developments in retailing cannot be explained without looking at entrepreneurial initiative and as in other countries Japan's retail sector has produced its fare share of entrepreneurs.  I have looked at entrepreneurship in Japanese retailing in the past and today and have found it to be a fascinating area of research with entrepreneurs in this sector being strong and colorful personalities forcefully pursuing not only the growth of their companies but also the diffusion of their retail concepts and philosophies. I have also looked at the activities of foreign companies in Japan and here especially at how they are trying to drive change in the Japanese distribution system (a short outline is here).

International Marketing of Japanese Companies in Southeast Asia

Within this research I focused on the marketing strategies of Japanese companies for the emerging markets of Southeast Asia. Together with a colleague (Jochen Legewie) I have led a project that looked at strategies of Japanese and European companies in Southeast Asia and have edited the book Corporate Strategies for Southeast Asia after the Crisis, myself focusing especially on issues of marketing.


Publications

OTHERS

  • Books

    Japanese Workplaces in Transition - Employee Perceptions, Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan  2009


    Innovation and Dynamics in Japanese Retailing - From Techniques to Formats to Systems, Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2003.

    ヨヘン　レゲヴィーヘンドリック　マイヤーオーレ平澤克彦　編『日欧多国籍企業のアジア戦略アジア経済危機後の展開』 白桃書房　２００２．

    (Editor with Jochen Legewie) Corporate Strategies for Southeast Asia After the Crisis. A Comparison of Multinational Firms From Japan and Europe, Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave 2000.

    Lebensversicherung und Konsument in Japan (Life Insurance and Consumer in Japan). Marburger Japan-Reihe Bd. 10. Marburg 1993: Förderverein Marburger Japan-Reihe.

    Dynamik im japanischen Einzelhandel. Einführung, Durchsetzung und Fortentwicklung neuer Betriebstypen 1954-1994 (Dynamism in Japanese Retailing: Introduction and Development of New Retail Formats 1954-1994). Gabler Edition Wissenschaft. Wiesbaden 1995: Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag.

    Japans Wirtschaft im Umbruch. Schlaglichter aus dem Deutschen Institut für Japanstudien (Japanese Economy in Transition: Spotlights from the German Institute for Japanese Studies). Iudicium 1999. (Editor with Jochen Legewie).

    Articles and Book Chapters

    with Harald Conrad, Overcoming the Ethnocentric Firm? – Foreign Fresh University Graduate Employment in Japan as a New International Human Resource Development Method. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, forthcoming, (online 1 June 2017) online open access at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2017.1330275

    Consumer Goods Distribution and Logistics in Japan, in Routledge Handbook of Japanese Business and Management Parissa Haghiran (ed.), Routledge 2016, pp. 340-349

    Japanese retailers in Southeast Asia: strong local partners, shopping malls, and aiming for comprehensive internationalization. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 24(5) (2014), 500-515.

     Two Asian malls: urban shopping centre development in Singapore and Japan, Asia Pacific Business Review, 15 (2009), (1), pp.123-135.

    Labour Market and Labour Market Policies for the Ageing Society, The Demographic Challenge: A Handbook about Japan, Florian Coulmas, Harald Conrad, Annette Schad-Seifert and Gabriele Vogt (eds.), Brill 2008.

    with Yu Jie, Working for Japanese Corporations in China: A Qualitative Study, Asian Business & Management, 7 (1) March 2008, pp. 33-51.

    Flexibilisierung des japanischen Arbeitsmarkts: Beschäftigungsmöglichkeiten für Jung und Alt, aber zu welchem Preis? (Flexibilisation of the Japanese labor market - employment opportunities for the young and the old, but at what price?), Japan nach Koizumi - Wandel in Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (Japan after Koizumi - changes in politics, economy and society), Michael Behrens and Jochen Legewie (Ed.), Nomos 2007,
     
    Wal-Mart's Entry into Japan as Discussed in Three Domestic Trade Journals, International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 17 (2007), 1, pp. 23-42.

    Veränderungen im japanischen Distributionssystem (Changes in the Japan's distribution system), Japans Zukunftsindustrien (Japan's Future Industries), Andreas Moerke and Anja Walke (Ed.) Springer 2007, pp. 351-361.

    Unternehmertum im Japanischen Einzelhandel seit den 1990er Jahren (Entrepreneurship in Japanese Retailing since the 1990s), Konvergenz oder Divergenz? Wandel der Unternehmensstrukturen in Japan und Deutschland (Convergence or Divergence? Change in enterprise structures in Japan and Germany), Cornelia Storz and Bernard Langeman (Ed.), Metropolis 2005, pp.271-298.

    Walking with dinosaurs: general trading companies in the reorganization of Japanese consumer goods distribution, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 32 (2004), no. 1, pp. 45-55.

    Networking Bricks and Clicks: Convenience Stores and the Organization of E-Commerce in Japan, Asia and Europe in the New Global System : Intercultural Cooperation and Competition Scenarios, Sung-Jo Park and Sierk Horn (Ed.) Palgrave 2003, pp. 283-202.

    The Crisis of Japanese Retailing at the Turn of the Millennium – A Crisis of Corporate Governance and Finance, International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 12, 1, pp. 13-28.

    Ein Blick auf die Wettbewerber – Internationale Marketingstrategien japanischer Unternehmen für südostasiatische Konsummärkte (A Look at the Competitors - International Marketing Strategies of Japanese Companies for Southeast Asian Consumer Markets), Marktstrategien Asien Pazifik, Karin Dietz (Hg.), Wiesbaden: Gabler 2001.

    (with Daniel Dirks, Martin Hemmert, Jochen Legewie, Franz Waldenberger) The Japanese Employment System in Transition, International Business Review 9 (2000), pp. 525-553.


    (with Jochen Legewie) Does Nationality Matter? Western and Japanese Multinational Corporations in Southeast Asia, European Review 8, 4 (2000), pp.. 553-567.

    Collaborating for Change in Japanese Consumer Goods Distribution – Strategic Alliances, Team Merchandising and „Enemies in the Same Boat“, Japanese Distribution Strategy, Michael Czinkota und Masaaki Kotabe (Ed.), London: Thomson Learning 2000, pp. 117-134.

    Konsumgüterdistribution – Suche nach leistungsstarken Partnern und einer zukunftsweisenden Arbeitsteilung (Consumer Goods Distribution - Search for Strong Partners and a Forward-looking Distribution of Functions), Japan ist offen – Chancen für deutsche Unternehmen, Heinz Riesenhuber und Josef Kreiner (Hg.), Heidelberg: Springer, 1998, pp.89-106.

    Struktur und Organisation des Distributions- und Dienstleistungssektors. In: Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien (ed): Die Wirtschaft Japans (The Japanese Economy). Heidelberg: Springer, 1998, S. 183-210.

    Dienstleistungen in der japanischen Wirtschaft – ein Überblick (Services in the Japanese Economy: An Overview), Japanstudien 9 (1997) pp.25-56.

    Revolution in der japanischen Distribution? Großunternehmen des Einzelhandels in einer Phase der Neuorientierung (Revolution in Japanese Retailing? Large Retail Companies Going Through a Period of Reorientation). In: Handesforschung 1996/1997, Jahrbuch der Forschungsstelle für den Handel Berlin (FfH) e.V., pp. 379-397.

    Binnenhandelspolitik, ein Stiefkind japanischer Wirtschaftspolitik? Konzepte, Maßnahmen, Hintergründe und Akteure der Politik für den Handel (Distribution Policy, a Stepchild of Japanese Economic Policy? Concepts, Measures, Background and Actors). In: Japanstudien: Jahrbuch des deutschen Instituts für Japanstudien der Philipp-Franz-von-Siebold-Stiftung (München: iudicum verlag), Vol.7 (1995), pp. 279-321.

    Wer kauft wo? Zur Einkaufsstättenwahl japanischer Konsumenten (Who Shops Where? Store Choice of Japanese Consumers). In: Japanstudien: Jahrbuch des deutschen Instituts für Japanstudien der Philipp-Franz-von-Siebold-Stiftung (München: iudicum verlag), Vol.5 (1993), pp. 171-207.

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