Robert Sun-Quae Lai
Director-General, Small and Medium Enterprise Administration (SMEA) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), Taiwan
Chairman of APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Working Group (SMEWG)
Dr Robert Sun-Quae Lai is the Director-General of Small and Medium Enterprise Administration (SMEA) of Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), an active customer-oriented organization providing a range of professional services to micro, small and medium enterprises to enhance upgrading and sustainable development.
Dr Lai spent fifteen years working for Department of Commerce, MOEA where he undertook policy research and implementation. His involvement in programs of the revision and harmonization of Corporate Law, establishment of infrastructure of commercial environment, business automation and logistic operation was given further boost on his assignment into office as Deputy Director-General of the Department. Dr Lai then was transferred to Deputy Director-General of SMEA where he continued his in-depth participation in supporting SME development. That time he was focusing on market promotion through the conduct of local market development plans, particularly in the frontlines all year round to communicate with SME entrepreneurs, find their potential business demands and provide for integrated solutions.
In his role as Director-General of SMEA, Dr Lai has consolidated SMEA’s key position as one of the powerful engines for Taiwan economic development. He is responsible for SME industrial policies and business strategies, entrepreneurial development and incubation, business consultation and guidance, financial assistance and facilitation, e-business and e-learning capacity building, knowledge management and international cooperation. His achievements in these realms have promoted and transformed SME operations into a new stage of efficiency, effectiveness and competitiveness.
Dr Lai is currently the Associate Professor of Business Administration at the National Taiwan Institute of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan. He received his MBA degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and Ph.D. degree in Business Administration from National Taipei University, Taiwan. Dr Lai’s research interests are in the fields of SME policy analysis, entrepreneurship, incubation, innovative business development, cross-cultural management, business negotiations and strategic alliances. He has published various articles on the utilization of industrial clustering and networking by SMEs, including researches on analyzing Taiwanese SME success stories and core competences, examining partnership collaboration for internationalization modes, exploring impacts of culture in the global competition, and investigating the situation of women-owned SMEs in the digital economy.
In light of Dr Lai’s outstanding performances and academic contributions, he was laurelled with Award for Model Civil Servant (1993), K. T. Lee Management Medal (2003), Outstanding IT Elite Award (2004) and Outstanding Civil Servant Award (2004). He concurrently represents SMEA in several domestic boards and international organizations and fora.
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