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Top > Vol.15 - Niklas Z Kviselius

Name: Dr. Niklas Z Kviselius		Nationality: Swedish

Affiliated research center/ school in Waseda	Institute for Digital Society, Graduate School of Global Information and Telecommunication Studies
Affiliated research institution at home country	Swedish IT-user Centre, Department of Information Technology, Uppsala University and Center for Information and Communication Research, Department of Marketing and Strategy, Stockholm School of Economics
Period of stay at Waseda	From December 2008 to December 2010

Subject of research
International Business, Trust-building, Innovation Management

About myself

Climbing Yatsugatake

Diving in Miyakojima

I was born in a small town in Sweden to a Croatian mother and Swedish father. Being raised also by my Croatian grandmother I was certainly exposed to several cultures and languages from an early age. This interest in learning new languages and openness to different ways of living and looking at how things “should be” has been of great help also later in life – especially as a researcher in Japan. I usually do my best to expose myself to local customs and languages – even if I must acknowledge that the Japanese written language is a real challenge. I have now learnt to speak what I call “Izakaya Japanese” (Izakaya=Japanese traditional pub), but still feel like a little child when trying to read a business newspaper like Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

My personal interests include outdoor activities like hiking, mountaineering, and diving. Japan is a great country for all these activities (please see attached pictures with hiking in the beautiful Yatsugatake mountain chain and diving in Miyakojima – a small island south of Okinawa.

First impressions from Japan

After high school I got an opportunity to study engineering mixed with Japanese politics, culture and economy at a special program at a Swedish university. Why my interest in Japan? Sometimes I blame a very popular TV-drama called Shogun based on a book by James Clavell that was broadcasted in my youth. I have actually met several Swedish people in Japan with various professional backgrounds that has made the same observation about themselves. So it seems like I am not completely alone regarding this perhaps unusual source of interest in the Japan!

My Master at the Stockholm School of Economics was focused on business administration and especially aspects of International Business. My studies took me to Keio Business School on exchange. When I look back on this time it is of course quite amusing that I am now working as a “Waseda Boy” in Takadanobaba but spend some of my student time as a “Keio Boy” in Hiyoshi! I do not want to compare these two excellent universities – but I personally like and find the famous Waseda spirit very much alive. I still have on my agenda to visit one of the famous Keio-Waseda Rugby or Baseball games.

The Waseda main campuses are surrounded by the dynamic Takadanobaba area. It is full of great, cheap (yes – sometimes dirty!) restaurants crowded by youngsters and oldsters. Some of Japans most famous and crowded ramen places are located in the Takadanobaba area. In the nighttime a row of small jazz clubs and cafes wake up and stay open for jam sessions into the next morning. Sometimes you can get especially lucky and meet someone special - I actually met my loving wife in one of these cafes!

My home university (Stockholm School of Economics)

Waseda University as research base

I completed my PhD at Stockholm School of Economics with a doctoral dissertation named “Trust-Building and Communication in SME Internationalization - A Study of Swedish-Japanese Business Relations”. Parts of this research were conducted on site at Waseda with the very helpful support of Professor Hitoshi Mitomo at GITS, now director for Institute for Digital Society. He accepted me as an honored guest and colleague and we developed close ties. I even contributed convincing the Professor that Sweden is such a fun place, leading him to choose the cold Stockholm for his six month sabbatical. It was naturally an easy choice for me to ask Professor Mitomo and Waseda to become my host organization also for the current two post-doc years sponsored by JSPS. Again Professor Mitomo has shown nothing but support and friendship.

Beside my academic adventures I have been involved in more hands-on business activities. My consultancy firm is engaged in various assignments that do not fit directly into the academic mission. I have worked two years as a Investment Manager at a Swedish Venture Cap firm, and most of this time also as the CMO and CEO of one software portfolio company. Before leaving for my post doc at Waseda I became employed also by one of the oldest universities in Sweden, Uppsala University. This work experience has been clearly advantageous for me studying business practices.

My current research interest is to continue looking into trust-building as a crucial, yet diffuse part of everyday business. I like to view trust as not an irrational act but a manageable act of faith in people, relationships, and social institutions. In my research I am now incorporating trust in the holistic innovation system where smaller high-tech firms are active. My interest in the smaller firms as study objects continue to making my research days very exciting in that I get to meet many charismatic entrepreneurs. In this research I have started up joint activities with a Japanese scholar and based on these positive experiences I can really recommend foreign visiting researchers to try to create joint research projects with other Japanese academics as soon as possible during a research stay here. It can be anything from some joint discussions, to joint data collection, and all the way to writing papers together.

As for future outlook two years go fast and I am open for opportunities to extend my stay. Research on the situation of smaller innovative companies is now a hot topic in Japan, and much work in terms of research needs to be done. Individuals, companies, as well as nations that are innovative and can stay that way have always and will continue to gain the largest advantage in terms of social welfare. Lastly I have an ambition and hope to continuously contribute to the future professional as well cultural exchange between Waseda University and my home universities in Sweden.

This picture is of me (sitting), host Professor Hitoshi Mitomo (to the right of me),
and a number of scholars visiting Stockholm School of Economics.　　　　　　　　　

PUBLICATIONS

- Niklas Z Kviselius, Håkan Ozan, Mats Edenius and Per Andersson. (2009). Living Labs as Tools for Open Innovation. COMMUNICATIONS & STRATEGIES, 74, 2 quarter, p. 75.
- Niklas Z Kviselius. (2008). Swedish software intensive companies: Competitiveness and Visibility. Swedsoft and VINNOVA (Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems), Stockholm Sweden
- Niklas Z Kviselius, Håkan Ozan, Mats Edenius and Per Andersson. (2008). The Evolution of Living Labs – Propositions for Improved Design and Further Research. Paper presented at The 5th International Conference on Innovation and Management (ICIM2008), Maastricht, the Netherlands, December 10-11, 2008
- Niklas Z Kviselius (Sekr.). (2008). Ambient Sweden - Internetframsyn ur ett infrastrukturperspektiv. Kungl. Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien (IVA), Stockholm Sweden. IVA-M 388. ISBN: 978-91-7082-765-5 - Niklas Z Kviselius. (2008). Trust-Building and Communication in SME Internationalization – A Study of Swedish-Japanese Business Relations. EFI, The Economic Research Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. ISBN: 978-91-7258-741-0
- Niklas Z Kviselius, Pablo Valiente and Mats Edenius. Beyond Campus Mobility – Experiences and Effects. In: Beyond Mobility. Per Andersson, Ulf Essler, Bertil Thorngren (Eds.). (2007). Studentlitteratur, Stockholm, Sweden, ISBN: 978-91-44-04928-1
- Mats Edenius, Niklas Z Kviselius, Center for Information and Communication Research, Department of Marketing and Strategy, Stockholm School of Economics; Pablo Valiente, Department of Management and Organization, Stockholm School of Economics, (2005): Beyond Campus Mobility - Experiences and Effects. Paper presented at Hong Kong Mobility Roundtable June 1-3 2005, Hong Kong
- Klas Johansson, Miguel Berg, Johan Hultell, and Jan Markendahl, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden; Jonas Lind and Niklas Kviselius, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden ; Mikael Prytz, Ericsson Research, Sweden (2004): Integrating User Deployed Local Access Points in a Mobile Operator’s Network. Paper presented at Wireless World Research Forum 4 - 5 November 2004, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Niklas Z Kviselius (2004): New Technologies Affecting Urban Logistics: Balancing Just-in-Time Deliveries with Negative Externalities. Paper presented at The 41st Annual Meeting of the Japan Section of the Regional Science Association International (JSRSAI), September 11-12, 2004, Tokyo, Japan (Local Organizer: Global Information and Telecommunication Institute (GITI), Waseda University)
- Also modified and translated into French September 2004 and published as: Commerce Urbain, Logistique et Nouvelles Technologies, in “Mobilités.net Sous-titre : Villes, transports, technologies face aux nouvelles mobilités”, Une collaboration Fing-RATP, avec le soutien de Bouygues Télécom, Sous la direction de Daniel Kaplan et Hubert Lafont LGDJ, collection « Questions numériques », 380 pages.
- Niklas Z Kviselius (2003): The Impact of Vehicle and Freight Telematics on Transportation Companies. Paper presented at Austin Mobility Roundtable 2004, March 11-12, 2004, Austin, Texas, USA (Local Organizer: The Center for Business, Technology and Law at the McCombs School at the University of Texas)
- Niklas Z Kviselius (2003): Modeling International Contacts and Entry strategies. Paper presented at The EAMSA (The Euro Asia Management Studies Association) 20th Annual Conference, October 22–25, 2003 in Stockholm
- Niklas Z Kviselius (2003): Den dolda programvaruindustrin [The hidden software industry]. Report prepared for IT-Företagen and Föreningen Svensk Programvaruindustri (The Swedish Association of Software Industry), March 2003
- Niklas Z Kviselius (2002): Swedish M2M Industry Case Study. Paper presented at M-BUSINESS 2002, The First International Conference on Mobile Business, 8-9 July, 2002, Athens, Greece (Local Organizer: ELTRUN, Athens University of Economics and Business).
- Niklas Z Kviselius (2001): The Forming of the Swedish Mobile Internet Industry. Paper (one of the top ten) presented at eBRF 2001 (e-Business Research Forum), 6 November 2001, e-Business Research Center, University of Tampere, Finland.
- Niklas Z Kviselius (2001): Swedish Mobile Internet Companies 2001. Report made for Invest in Sweden Agency, later spread and used as reference in the academy.