At the end of the 1960s, when Joop Stam was a student at Keio Kokusai Center in Tokyo, people used to say: "That young man from Holland will go a long way. He typifies the modern young scholar, who is eager and able to take advantage of today's opportunities."
Those people these years later might remark, "Well, what did we say?" Joop is now Dr. J.A. Stam, professor of economics and management of Pacific Asia at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, and the University of Twente. He is engaged in international comparative research of organization and management. His many research projects have covered industrial innovation in Japan, the technology transfer of Japanese industry to ASEAN, Japan's direct foreign investment in Europe, and the changing role of medium- and small-size enterprises. Still a student whilst instructing others, currently he is working on the management of technology in postrecession Japan.
He is the son of a farmer from northern Holland. The only one of seven brothers and sisters to have had, during school days, an interest in the Far East, he decided to specialize in Japan. He studied at the University of Leiden, famed center of learning since the late 16th century, developing there his interest in modern Japan in the sphere of economics. He made a special study into the crucial matter of human resource management in Japanese enterprises. Valuing comparisons, he looked for pointers to future changes. After getting his first degree, he applied for a scholarship to Japan.