Understanding the East Asia from corporate perspective Tomofumi Amano It is my great honor to receive the 22nd Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Awards, with respect for the political achievement by Masayoshi Ohira, the establishment of the concept of “Asia Pacific Basin Cooperation”. I would like to appreciate President Gaishi Hiraiwa, Executive Director Hiroshi Ohira, Chief Committee Akio Watanabe, professors of selection committee and staffs of Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Foundation. It is almost 10 years ago when I started this research. In 1996, I had a chance to study the situation of “hollowing out” in Japanese industries from the advice of Professor Hiroyuki Itami. In the middle of 1990’s, many firms suffered from high currency rate and shrinking pressure by foreign production shift. China’s presence was already remarkable. While continuing my research work, I found two basic orientations of the book. The first is to understand the domestic problems through the industrial dynamism of the East Asia. The second is to pay full respect to the direct field observation and interactive dialogue with corporate interviewees, to seize the macro dynamism from corporate viewpoint. Since my academic field is business management, I especially set field the second policy as a core methodology. The result of research was quite intriguing. Japanese firms, having invested into East Asian countries strategically and embedded their business into local industrial network, can actually draw a larger picture of corporate growth. More than that, these firms succeeded in overcoming the domestic hollowing out as well and turning their business into new cutting edge. By their growth, Japanese industries have accelerated their industrial transition to new competitive fields. The research also taught the weakness of Japanese firms. When visiting around Asian countries, we had chances to talk with managers from Western firms. Their strong commitment and connection to the East Asia sometimes even surpassed our expectation. Like Prime Minister Ohira proposed in the past moment, looking at the East Asia in broader context based on inter-regional ideas, rather than paying attention only on itra-regional transactions, is very essential. With today’s encouragement, I would like to continue my academic work in international business.