Research Activities

Research Projects

FY 2016/2017 Research Topic: C-35
Poverty Alleviation and the Role of Convenience Store Chains

Outline

Convenience stores have evolved into “Japanese style convenience stores” since they were first imported from the United States in 1974. Japanese style convenience stores are now becoming a distinguished business model in East Asian countries such as Taiwan, Korea and China. Japanese style convenience stores have also started penetrating into Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia, and they may soon expand to Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia. This new business model could have huge impacts on service standards, logistics modernization and accessibility of ordinary people to public services such as paying water, electricity, telephone and other bills. We will study the current situation of convenience stores in Southeast Asia and their possible impacts on poverty alleviation in those countries.

Period

April 2016 - March 2018

Members of the Research Project
[ Organizer ] SATO Hiroshi
[ Co-researchers ] SATO Yukihito
[ Co-researchers ] SEKINE Hisao (Professor, Tsukuba University)
[ Co-researchers ] OHNO Atsushi (Associate Professor, Ritsumeikan University)
[ Co-researchers ] YOSHIDA Hidemi (Associate Professor, Hosei University)
[ Co-researchers ] HAMAMOTO Atsushi (Associate Professor, Nagoya City University)
[ Co-researchers ] KUBOTA Rieko (National Institute for Environmental Studies)
[ Co-researchers ] SHIMODA Yukimi (JICA Research Institute)
Publications
  • First year: Interim Report
  • Second year: IDE Selected Book Series