PhD Thesis title: Knowledge and HRM practice transfer in emerging economies: the case of  Japanese joint ventures in Indonesia

Thesis achievements and prizes:

• Winner: Thomas A. Kochan and Stephen R. Sleigh Best Dissertation Awards, Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA, 73rd Annual Meeting), USA, March 2020
• Runner-up: Adam Smith Best Dissertation 2020 Award, Academy of International Business UK & Ireland (AIB-UKI, 47th Annual Meeting), UK, June 2020
• Highly commended: European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Outstanding Doctoral Research Award 2020, HRM category, Belgium, September 2020
• Impact factor: my PhD thesis has been downloaded over 400 times across 32 countries since granted Open Access in October 2022

Thesis supervisors: Professors G. Meardi, N. Driffield and G. Wood

My 2014-2024 fieldwork across Japan, China, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand resulted in 400 pieces of qualitative empirical data covering the automotive industry, HRM, employer associations, trade unions and quasi-government/quasi-public organizations (i.e., AOTS, JICA, JILAF and JETRO). My on-going cross-border fieldwork has explored the sustainability and human capital development of the automotive industry (i.e., car, motorcycle and auto part manufacturers Tiers 1, 2, 3 and 4). It involves dominant Japanese, local automotive manufacturers and quasi-public organization across ASEAN manufacturing states. It speaks directly to SDG priority 8: work, employment, economic equity realization, and policy development and SDG priority 9: build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. With my comprehensive data gathering and self-managed database, I  aim to co-create knowledge and establish policy-relevant research collaborations with knowledge holders globally.

Manuscripts under revision (2024 to present):

• Developing global competitive capabilities in an emerging market economy: the case of TPS supplier development in Indonesia
• Informing national industrial policy development: the roles and mechanisms of Toyota Indonesia direct suppliers in delivering the TPS supplier development to indirect suppliers
• Strategic HRM and global supply chain performance: evidence from automotive manufacturers operating in a late industrial nation
• Implications of the 1997 Asian financial crisis in redefining industrial democracy in a Southeast Asian labour market economy

I am passionate about teaching. I believe that the pursuit of higher education gives one the opportunity to acquire transferable learning skills, develop critical thinking, and engage freely in intellectual debates and inquiry. In my teaching, I aim to create a dynamic, interactive learning environment where students can transcend the physical boundaries of the classroom. I encourage students to apply abstract concepts to real-world problems and issues facing organizations.

I have an avid interest in international management policies and practices. I feel I can awaken this passion and curiosity in students. I strive to help them think about responsible and sustainable business management practices and organizational processes that influence industrial economic actors, stakeholders, and the business environment. These subjects focus on human behavior in complex socioeconomic and political situations in evolving organizations, leaders, policymakers and citizens in interconnected global business and manufacturing ecosystems.

In advancing students’ understanding of globalization and its multilayered impacts, I encourage open-ended discussion on the dynamics among management, workers, labor unions, employer associations, and other stakeholders, such as government agencies, policymakers, and NGOs. As a module/unit leader, I advise students to relate theoretical concepts to empirical evidence, develop logical arguments, and reflect on the real world and their own experience both as social beings and as future leaders who will face challenges that matter to them and their communities. 

It is important to foster an appreciation of the connection between theory and practice—and an understanding of an integrated business management landscape that can transform the way an organization influences local socioeconomic and political changes.

As an international scholar, I care about each student’s success and wellbeing. I see students as individuals with great potential, unique life experiences, and learning styles.

Module/tutorial leaders:

1. Theories of International Business, Postgraduate

2.Global Corporate Power in the International Economy, Postgraduate

3. International Business ad Global Development, final year Undergraduate

4. Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship (CMDA)

Willing to supervise doctoral students

I welcome enquiries from potential PhD students in my research interests areas, include: 

• Innovation
• Organization
• Work
• Employment Relations
• Japanese Management
• Emerging market economy in Southeast Asia context
• Operation, Production and Manufacturing (OPM) Management in the automotive industry

Supervision (research project) for undergraduate and postgraduate.

Soehardjojo, J., & Delbridge, R. (2022). Dominance and societal effects in HR practice transfer: the role of meso-level actors in diffusing and adapting the Japanese model in Indonesia International Journal of Human Resource Management (ABS rank 3*/ABDC classification A), OpenAccess DOI: 10.1080/09585192.2022.2122729

Soehardjojo, J., Delbridge, R., & Meardi, G. (2023). The hidden layers of resistance to dominant HRM transfer: evidence from Japanese management practice adoption in Indonesia Economic and Industrial Democracy (ABS rank 3/ABDC classification A), OpenAcess DOI: 0143831X221086019

INVITEED ADDRESSES AND INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT

1. Knowledge Transfer Partnership, Toyota Indonesia, Jakarta, March & September 2024

Topic: Structural reform, competitiveness and capacity development of automotive industry

1. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia and Toyota National Academy
2. Toyota Indonesia auto part manufacturers and suppliers, i.e., (in)direct, Tiers 1, 2, 3 and 4
3. Confederation of Indonesian Industry (APINDO and KADIN)

Audience: Vice-president, directors, management personnel, shopfloor workers and trade union representatives

2. High-level policy maker and industry discussant: Tokyo and Osaka, October 2023

Topic: Promoting the electric motorcycle industry and strengthening the supply chain infrastructure in Indonesia

Audience: invited Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, automotive and auto part manufacturers of Japan and Indonesia, and Japanese quasi-government agency, JICA

3. Symposium discussant: Tokyo, February 2020

Topic: How have Japanese MNCs managed the changes in labor market institutions in Indonesia: the case of Toyota-Astra Automotive Group Indonesia?

Audience: Keidanren (Japan business group) and Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Partnerships (AOTS) Japan (the largest Japanese ODA organisation administrating Japanese technical and HRM training to overseas Japanese subsidiary trainees), policy stakeholders, labor unions and employer associations

4. Guest speaker: Bangkok and Yangon, September 2019

Topic: Impact of international sanctions on HR development and business infrastructure

Audience: (i) Thai SMEs, Bangkok AOTS and Tai-Nichi International College (TNIC), Bangkok, Thailand; Yangon SMEs, Myanmar AOTS Japan alumni and chambers of commerce, Yangon, Myanmar

5. Guest speaker: Tokyo, November 2019

Topic: The Role of the labor movement in Japan and issues of international training for labor unions in the UK and Germany

Audience:  Japan International Labor Foundation (JILAF), Japan trade union (RENGO), management and workers, academia, ILO, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and EU representatives

6. Guest speaker, Jakarta, September 2015 & 2019

Topics: (i) APINDO and KADIN, the Indonesian chamber of commerce and international ODA organisation involved in HRM-ER knowledge transfer (2015); (ii) the roles, strategies and implications of Japan-led ODA influence on the Japanese industrial development and navigating the contested dominant HRM practices and “harmonious” ER (2019)

Audience: Indonesian employer associations, chamber of commerce, policy advisors, HRM practitioners, FES Germany and AOTS Japan representatives