Ying Dissertation
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ESSAYS ON TRANSNATIONAL BIOSCIENCE ENTREPRENEURS: EVIDENCE FROM AMERICA, CHINA, AND TAIWAN A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Jonathan G. Ying May 2012 © 2012 Jonathan G. Ying ii ESSAYS ON TRANSNATIONAL BIOSCIENCE ENTREPRENEURSHIP: EVIDENCE FROM AMERICA, CHINA, AND TAIWAN Jonathan G. Ying, Ph.D. Cornell University 2012 Although there are previous studies on transnational migrants, no studies have been done on transnational bioscience entrepreneurs (TBEs) from either China or Taiwan. This dissertation is the result of grounded theory methodology and extensive on-the- ground fieldwork from April 2008 to May 2010 in Taiwan to yield conclusions that are convincing and accurate. Following Mills (2000), Paper 1 situates the researcher and respondentsʼ personal experiences in their social structures and traces the transformation of these social structures in their cultural, historical, and political contexts. In so doing, this paper attempts to understand the extent to which a social scientistʼs training and transnational identity impact his work as a collector and analyst of qualitative data. Paper 2 documents the arc of TBEʼs transnational migration from Taiwan to America before circling back toward China. Through the crucible of immigration and the desire to succeed, TBEs developed their own global sensibility, which empowers them to discover, evaluate, and exploit opportunities beyond political borders. Their global sensibility defines what is transnational about TBEs. As a coda to their already highly distinguished careers, TBEs seized the opportunity to learn what their true capabilities are absent the institutional barriers that are present in America and to leverage their iii expertise in upgrading China and Taiwanʼs global bioscience competitiveness. Paper 3 reveals how a group of individuals who are defined as extreme cases based on the surface metrics of professional achievement and personal net worth are, in fact, driven by motivations common to all people. TBEs are motivated by nostalgia for their country of origin, obligation to family members, and opportunities for self actualization. As human beings, TBEs want to return to their home, support their family, and reach their full potential both inside and outside the workplace. Their proclivity for entrepreneurship together with their nostalgia for their country of origin explains why, instead of choosing early retirement amid the material comforts of America, they opted to return to Taiwan and continue working throughout the autumn of their careers. TBEs recognized an opportunity where self actualization and economic and scientific development converged. iv BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Born in Taiwan, Jonathan Ying immigrated to America at age nine and attended public schools in Los Angeles before entering St. Johnʼs College, Annapolis, Maryland, where he double majored in Philosophy and in History of Science and Mathematics. He earned an M.T.S. in Religions of the World from Harvard University, and an M.I.L.R. in International and Comparative Labor from Cornell University. He was a U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellow at National Taiwan University and a junior visiting scholar at the Institute of History and Philology and the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. Prior to his academic career, Jonathan Ying held a variety of human resource positions at Amgen, General Mills, and Texas Instruments. He was also the founding assistant dean of students for Asian American affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he partnered with faculty and students to develop an academic program in Asian American studies that has grown to include 15 full-time and 8 affiliated faculty members. iii To Kathryn, Sophia, and Alexandra iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS At Academia Sinica, Taiwan, my academic home for more than two years, I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the librarians at the Center for Asia-Pacific Area Studies, Institute of European and American Studies, Institute of Modern History, Institute of History and Philology, Institute of Ethnology, and the Joint Library of Humanities and Social Sciences. I also want to recognize Vice President Fan-Sen Wang and Dr. Max K. W. Huang of the Institute of History and Philology and the Institute of Modern History, respectively, for their excellent support of my research and for providing much needed office space, crucial institutional affiliation, and research visa sponsorship. Dr. Peng- sheng Chiu of the Institute of History and Philology provided sponsorship and delightful conversations that helped me acclimate to Taiwanʼs academic culture. Dr. Chiu also introduced me to Dr. Yu-ju Lin of the Institute of Taiwan History, from whom I learned an immense amount about Taiwanese history, culture, and society. I also thank Dr. Lin for introducing me to Dr. Chih-jou Jay Chen of the Institute of Sociology whose critical questions to an early draft of my research proposal helped me narrow my focus. To the research assistants at the Institute of Modern History with whom I shared many months of computer time and from whom I gained great insights into the contemporary Taiwanese mindset, thank you. Above all, I thank the tireless support of Professor Wejen Chang of the Institute of History and Philology who helped me navigate my way around the vast resources within Academia Sinica. Those who know Professor Chang know all too well that his time can be much better spent on his magnum opus than on advising an American graduate student with his dissertation research. v Due to the need to maintain integrity of the research process, I cannot thank each and every one of the 31 TBEs by name. In the final analysis, I am a mere analyst of their incredible career challenges, immigration stories, scientific discoveries, and social advocacy that changed the world in which we live. Without their work ethic and devotions to social and technical innovations, we would not see the progress in democracy, human rights, and bioscience that are in place today. In the U.S., I gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the U.S. Department of Education and Cornell Universityʼs East Asia Program for awarding me a summer and an academic year Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship. Without the two FLAS fellowships, I would not have been able to achieve the native fluency in Mandarin Chinese that was key to my data collection using face-to-face interviews. To the dedicated teachers at National Taiwan Universityʼs International Chinese Language Program, thank you for improving my Chinese fluency in a mere 12 months. At Cornell, the following units generously funded my transnational dissertation research: American Studies Program (Dissertation Research Grants), College of Arts and Sciences (Robert S. Hatfield Award for the Study of Ethics in Business), East Asia Program (Hu Shih Memorial Research Grants), The Graduate School (Ta-Chung & Ya- Chao Liu Memorial Scholarship), ILR School (Deanʼs Dissertation Research Grant and Conference Travel Grant) and Institute for the Social Sciences (Graduate Fellowship). I especially want to thank Renee A. Milligan at Cornellʼs East Asia Program for shepherding my many grant applications and Rhonda Clouse at Cornellʼs ILR School for excellent long distance administrative support during my two-year absence from Ithaca. Appreciation also goes to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation for a much needed vi travel stipend that took me to Eugene, Oregon, where I benefitted from the insightful comments of Professors Sonali Shah of the University of Washington and Yan Gong of the University of California at Irvine at the 8th West Coast Research Symposium on Technology Entrepreneurship doctoral consortium. Gratitude also goes to Professor Xiao-ping Chen of the University of Washington and Professor Mary Zellmer-Bruhn of the University of Minnesota for their equally helpful comments at the Academy of Management IMD doctoral consortium in Montreal, Canada. I also want to give my appreciation to Professor Susan Model of the University of Massachusetts - Amherst for her careful reading and insightful comments of an earlier draft of one of my papers. I thank the faith that my committee members (Professors Risa L. Lieberwitz, William J. Sonnenstuhl, Derek S. Chang, and Lance A. Compa) had in my ability to create my own research question and the freedom and support they gave me to conduct independent research overseas to satisfy my own intellectual curiosity. Finally, I thank Kathryn Smith for being the most patient editor and supportive spouse on earth. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Biographical Sketch######### iii Dedication ########## iv Acknowledgements ######### v Table of Contents ######## # viii List of Tables ####### ## x Paper 1: Innovation Begins When You Leave Home: Reflections on Biography, History, and Social Structure in the Study of Transnational Bioscience Entrepreneurs # I. Introduction 1 II. Background 2 A. Self 2 B. Schemas of Devotion 12 C. Filial Piety 12 D. Head of State 16 E. Head of Household 17 III. Leaving Native Land 19 A. Taiwan Under Martial Law 19 B. Violence and Repression at Home 21 IV. Returning to Native Land 27 A. Thirty Years Later 27 B. New Taiwanese 31 V. Meeting the Respondents 33 A. Foreign Language Training 33 B. Scientific Knowledge 35 C. Transnational Identity 37 VI. Conclusion 38 viii Paper 2: What is Transnational about Transnational Bioscience Entrepreneurs? I. Introduction 43 II. Background 44 A. Transnational Defined 44 B. Methodology 47 III. Immigration 52 A. Leaving Country of Origin 52 B. The Formosa Incident 58 IV. Developing China and Taiwan!s Bioscience Capability 63 A. Scientists Engaged in the Public Sphere 63 B. Upgrading Taiwan!s Bioscience Infrastructure 74 C. Developing China and Taiwan!s Bioscience Industries 81 V. Conclusion 96 Paper 3: Learning from the Unfamiliar: How Global Sensibility Helped Transnational Bioscience Entrepreneurs Succeed I. Introduction 106 II. Background 109 A. Foreignness 109 B. Flexible Citizenship 115 C. Methodology 116 III. Transnational Bioscience Entrepreneurs 122 A.