Dr. Paul Hong named Fulbright Scholar, will teach, conduct research in India

Dr. Paul Hong, Department Information Operations and Technology Management in The University of Toledo College of Business and Innovation, has been named a recipient of the J. William Fulbright Scholarship award to India.

“I was very delighted and very fortunate to be accepted for this program, which leads with a global perspective. I’m very grateful for COBI’s strategic engagement in India and for what COBI has been doing, and COBI’s relationship with PSG Institute of Management and COBI’s reputation made the difference,” Dr. Hong said.

Dr. Paul Hong

“Based on previous international research network experiences I have considered possible options for Fulbright scholarship grants among seven different countries: Korea, China, Japan, Germany, UK, Canada, and India.  I finally chose India for three reasons:
- for the dynamic growth possibilities. With vast youth populations, innovative and entrepreneurial capabilities, and slow but steady infrastructure developments. I believe that the world will pay attention to India just as we did for China for the past 30 years. India would be a linkage nation between advanced economies (North America and EU) and Africa, Middle East and Latin America.
- for the rich research network relationships. I have visited India twice already. At Christ University  (Bangalore, India). I met the president and researchers years ago. This summer I will be visiting India again for a month before I start Fulbright projects next January.
-  and because India is a growing strategic partner with the US in multiple arenas: economic, political, educational, and cultural.  Increasing interactions between US and India bring tremendous opportunities for innovative growth.”

“My base will be Christ University at Bangalore,” Dr. Hong said, “and I will work with scholars at PSG Institute of Management (Coimbatore) and J Nehru University (New Delhi). I will be conducting research workshops for faculty members from these institutions who like to build research agenda with effective results in terms of quality publication and real world impacts. In 2017, two special journal issues will be organized on the topic of ‘entrepreneurial innovations in Base of Pyramid (BoP)’.  Two UT doctoral students, Nitya Singh and Blaine Stout, will also join in this team of international network of researchers.”

“In Christ University, there will be entrepreneurial leadership training sessions for graduate and undergraduate honor students.  This would be somewhat similar to what Dr. Clint Longenecker has already been doing with the Klar Leadership Academy at UT. I am grateful for this Fulbright scholarship grants which provide necessary fund, scholarly credibility to engage in reputable work and collaborative research network formation.”

“My research interest is on entrepreneurial innovation, which is crucial for developing growth engines for both Top of Pyramid (ToP; rich top tier 1-2 billion people) and Bottom of Pyramid (BoP; poor bottom 5-6 billion people),” Dr. Hong explained.  “With slow growth in almost all advanced nations including U.S., the ToP nations look for growth opportunities with nations with huge BoP segments. Morally, the firms--small and large--can no longer ignore poor people at the vast BoP.  Besides, there is serious concern for resource constraints. How can this earth provide quality life for a greater number of people without damaging environments and exhausting all available resources? Here is tremendous call for entrepreneurial innovation. What may bring vast people out of poverty is innovation efforts through entrepreneurship that align ToP resources (e.g., capital, experiences, skills, technology and infrastructure) and BoP capabilities (e.g., leadership commitment and human ingenuity to provide innovative solutions for huge BoP challenges). Different types of innovation use limited resources well with affordable prices for high quality and relevant products and services.  India, with its vast social capital and enormous human resources, would provide rich research opportunities.”

“My deep appreciation to Gary Insch (COBI dean); Anand Kunnathur (COBI associate dean);  PS Sundar (IOTM Department chair); TS Ragunathan (past Chair of IOTM depart and current UT-India Program Coordinator) for his many years of mentorship;  wonderful colleagues, COBI Ph. D. students for their support and encouragement, Dwight Haase (sociology dept) for sharing his Fulbright experiences, and UT President Sharon Garber for valuing research for institutional reputation. I owe much to them for whatever that can be accomplished through my research and service endeavors.”

The Fulbright Program aims to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries, and is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government. As a Fulbright scholar, Dr. Hong will have the opportunity to work collaboratively with international partners in educational, political, cultural, economic and scientific fields.

“The key is a global perspective,” Dr. Hong explained. “What I emphasize to students here is to go beyond a tri-state perspective; our students can work with companies from around the world because their technical and communication and relationship skills are very good. They are prepared to go anywhere. Through my work as a Fulbright Scholar, I can help our students engage with those students and companies, and this provides a great opportunity to further understand their growing market potential. Growth through global engagement, and a lot of businesses will benefit. This increasing strategic initiative will continue a lot of opportunity and will benefit students who work in the US.”

“Fulbright is very service minded,” he said, “and I view this as a service opportunity.”