A day in the life of a Taiwan-based Swiss lawyer in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 4:30 a.m. Getting enough sleep turns out to be one of the biggest challenges here. Due to the 12-hour time difference, Harvard’s location in Massachusetts is not the most suitable for dealing with Taiwan matters. At first I tried various approaches, for…
TOPICS readers are surely aware of the important role of AmCham Taipei, but may not realize that Taiwan also has two other American chambers. Located in the financial, commercial, and political capital of the country, AmCham Taipei is the oldest, largest, and most influential U.S. business organization in Taiwan. Since its founding in 1951, its…
In recent years, Dan Silver played a central role in the AmCham Taipei leadership. Besides serving as Chairman in 2016, he fulfilled two two-year terms as a member of the Board of Governors (2014-2017) and at different times was a co-chair of two committees, Medical Devices and Public Health. A graduate of Brandeis University in…
Some pointers for multinationals looking to improve their community involvement. Many companies recognize the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) but are still daunted by the challenges involved in doing it well. A lot can go wrong every step of the way – from picking a cause, to choosing partners, to long-term execution. Here are…
Describing social enterprises as an “important part of Taiwan’s soft power,” Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s Digital Minister, hailed their ability to meld the pursuit of social interests and business profits – forces usually thought of as being in conflict – to facilitate the search for common shared values and solutions. She made her remarks as the…
A leading engineering company seeks to reposition itself. If you’ve ever ridden on the Taipei MRT, filled up your car with gasoline, or even turned on the lights in your home or office, then you’ve experienced the work of Taiwan’s largest engineering services company, CTCI Corp. With annual revenues exceeding US$2.4 billion, and over 40…
Domestic research institutes have developed numerous innovative technologies for transfer to the private sector. Taiwan’s prowess in such industries as semiconductors and bicycles is well-known. If government efforts bear fruit, the list of industries in which Taiwan is among the global leaders may be lengthened in the years head – and dental equipment and materials…
Cacai Cacao, Vicky Lin’s bean-to-bar chocolate company is a home business in every sense. The inspiration for the business came during a 2015 visit to her husband Mark’s family home in the Philippines, a trip that gave her the chance to see several cacao farms that make their own chocolate for turning into finished chocolate…
Justin Dunkle didn’t intend to follow in the footsteps of his father, Joseph Dunkle, a former military police officer from New York who founded Aunt Stella’s Cookies and Cakes in Japan in 1983. The younger Dunkle, raised in Japan and educated in Canada and Japan, instead originally chose a career in investment banking. The fallout…
Not long after coming to Taiwan to study Chinese, Brett Aaron started to dabble in business – opening the market here for Snapple beverages – as a way to help hone his language skills. Now, some three decades later, he is still based in Taipei, and the company he founded in 1994, BABI International Corp.,…
