An Indigenous Mango Tree Inspiration, Bringing a Local Perspective into Global Branding Research
Tainan, Taiwan, April 28, 2015
Nowadays, Professor Faye Kao lectures graduate courses at the Institute of International Management (IIMBA) of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU). She loves to work with international and local graduate students and she provides them with creative perspectives in marketing strategy, cultural innovation, and consumption. Some of the topics she lectures include cultural branding strategy and services marketing. Interestingly enough, she started off on a very different career path.
In the late eighties, Kao graduated as bachelor, not in marketing, but in zoology. “As a child, I was always fascinated by natural life, that is why I went in that direction,” says Kao.
However, spending her working life as a biologist in a laboratory was not a pleasant prospect. “I soon discovered that laboratory work in life science was not what I liked to do. I tried to find a way to reconnect with my heart. I have been quite interested in art and design since childhood. Eventually, I chose to master in marketing, because it provides a nice balance of all things that I am interested in.” She adds to that: “I hope before I retire, I can have an opportunity to pick up my design hobby and do something in that field.”
Kao left Taiwan for the USA to pursue an MBA in marketing and she later went on to get her doctoral degree. “Like so many of my generation, I went abroad for studying and experience. Taiwan is an island and its Taiwanese have a call to connect more with the world. So, it was my intentional goal to go abroad.”
“Initially, my plan was to go to study in the USA, but I ended up staying multiple years, and went back and forth between the USA and Taiwan over these years,” she says. During this stay, she lived and worked in the city of New York for seven years and according to herself this period was exhilarating. “New York is a place of energy. The city is multicultural, inspiring, and it really lifts you up to a level of global perspective.”
Nevertheless, not merely two years ago, Kao decided to take an opportunity to return to her root, the city of Tainan, where she grew up. The whereabouts of this move are somehow philosophical. “Actually, I didn't plan it this way. Consider it a complete cycle, like in oriental philosophy; you always return to the locus where you first took off. It has been thirty years since I left Tainan for college; I had never returned to live here until now. The thirty years provide me an objective standpoint to observe the change in the city as well as in myself. I consider it lucky to be in this position.”
At IIMBA, Kao is on an oriental mission as well. Apparently, current research in global marketing is dominated by western scholars. “Asian researchers are still relatively scarce in this field, so I hope to make my contribution.”
“Often, research in global marketing is viewed from a westerner’s perspective, but I like to show that oriental culture has unique characteristics and want to provide an insider’s point of view. As Asian brands trying to define their identities in the global marketplace, the number of research papers in marketing field from Asia, for example Taiwan, China, and South Korea, have grown in recent years as well. Most importantly, the research questions are more relevant to the marketing problems that Asian brands encounter, and the research quality has also become better than before,” according to Kao.
Kao finds the university campus an inspiring environment. “NCKU has dedicated to provide a multicultural environment for free exchange of ideas between academic and industry to induce creativity. It is my privilege to be able to interact with international students at IIMBA and to participate in various projects, for example, SATU, Presidents’ Forum of Southeast and South Asia and Taiwan Universities, and db school, a program to provide students with cross discipline training from design and business fields.” One of her favorite locations on campus is the indigenous mango tree trio in front of the Students Activity Center where she often goes. “Those mango trees remind me of Isaac Newton and his falling apple. Perhaps a falling mango can give me inspiration, too. Hopefully, the mango trees at National Cheng Kung University will one day become just as famous as the apple trees at Cambridge University,” she laughs.
Enditem/alex van egmond
Nowadays, Professor Faye Kao lectures graduate courses at the Institute of International Management (IIMBA) of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU). She loves to work with international and local graduate students and she provides them with creative perspectives in marketing strategy, cultural innovation, and consumption. Some of the topics she lectures include cultural branding strategy and services marketing. Interestingly enough, she started off on a very different career path.
In the late eighties, Kao graduated as bachelor, not in marketing, but in zoology. “As a child, I was always fascinated by natural life, that is why I went in that direction,” says Kao.
However, spending her working life as a biologist in a laboratory was not a pleasant prospect. “I soon discovered that laboratory work in life science was not what I liked to do. I tried to find a way to reconnect with my heart. I have been quite interested in art and design since childhood. Eventually, I chose to master in marketing, because it provides a nice balance of all things that I am interested in.” She adds to that: “I hope before I retire, I can have an opportunity to pick up my design hobby and do something in that field.”
Kao left Taiwan for the USA to pursue an MBA in marketing and she later went on to get her doctoral degree. “Like so many of my generation, I went abroad for studying and experience. Taiwan is an island and its Taiwanese have a call to connect more with the world. So, it was my intentional goal to go abroad.”
“Initially, my plan was to go to study in the USA, but I ended up staying multiple years, and went back and forth between the USA and Taiwan over these years,” she says. During this stay, she lived and worked in the city of New York for seven years and according to herself this period was exhilarating. “New York is a place of energy. The city is multicultural, inspiring, and it really lifts you up to a level of global perspective.”
Nevertheless, not merely two years ago, Kao decided to take an opportunity to return to her root, the city of Tainan, where she grew up. The whereabouts of this move are somehow philosophical. “Actually, I didn't plan it this way. Consider it a complete cycle, like in oriental philosophy; you always return to the locus where you first took off. It has been thirty years since I left Tainan for college; I had never returned to live here until now. The thirty years provide me an objective standpoint to observe the change in the city as well as in myself. I consider it lucky to be in this position.”
At IIMBA, Kao is on an oriental mission as well. Apparently, current research in global marketing is dominated by western scholars. “Asian researchers are still relatively scarce in this field, so I hope to make my contribution.”
“Often, research in global marketing is viewed from a westerner’s perspective, but I like to show that oriental culture has unique characteristics and want to provide an insider’s point of view. As Asian brands trying to define their identities in the global marketplace, the number of research papers in marketing field from Asia, for example Taiwan, China, and South Korea, have grown in recent years as well. Most importantly, the research questions are more relevant to the marketing problems that Asian brands encounter, and the research quality has also become better than before,” according to Kao.
Kao finds the university campus an inspiring environment. “NCKU has dedicated to provide a multicultural environment for free exchange of ideas between academic and industry to induce creativity. It is my privilege to be able to interact with international students at IIMBA and to participate in various projects, for example, SATU, Presidents’ Forum of Southeast and South Asia and Taiwan Universities, and db school, a program to provide students with cross discipline training from design and business fields.” One of her favorite locations on campus is the indigenous mango tree trio in front of the Students Activity Center where she often goes. “Those mango trees remind me of Isaac Newton and his falling apple. Perhaps a falling mango can give me inspiration, too. Hopefully, the mango trees at National Cheng Kung University will one day become just as famous as the apple trees at Cambridge University,” she laughs.
Enditem/alex van egmond
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