Affiliation: Copenhagen Business School
Bio: Mary Yoko Brannen is Honorary Professor of International Business at the Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Denmark having been awarded honorary doctorate in 2016 and Professor Emerita from San José State University, California, U.S.A. She previously held the Jarislowsky East Asia (Japan) Chair of Cross-Cultural Management at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. She has served as a Visiting Professor at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France, Stanford University, California, U.S.A, and Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. She currently sits on the Advisory Boards of the Master of International Business at the Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden, the Migration, Business and Society Network at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, and the Center for Japanese Studies at Portland State University in the U.S. She was appointed Fellow of the Academy of International Business in 2016 having served as Deputy Editor of the Journal of International Business Studies for two consecutive elected terms (2011-2016).
Professor Brannen’s expertise in multinational affairs is evident in her research, consulting, teaching, and personal background. Born and raised in Japan, having studied in the US, France, and Spain, and having worked as a cross-cultural consultant for over 40 years to various Fortune 100 companies she brings a multi-faceted, deep knowledge of today’s complex cultural business environment. As a researcher, she is internationally recognized as an expert in cross-cultural management, ethnomethodology, and qualitative studies of complex cultural organizational phenomena. Her current research projects include a coursebook on ethnography in international business and ongoing research on the role of immigrants and their progeny as bicultural boundary spanners in global organizational contexts. Her consulting specialty is in helping multinational firms realize their global strategic initiatives by aligning, integrating, and deploying critical organizational human resources.
Dr. Brannen is bilingual in Japanese and English, competent in French and Spanish, and has a working knowledge of Mandarin. Her non-academic interests include, horseback riding (dressage), skiing, Japanese calligraphy, meditation, and Zen Buddhism.
Last Updated: February 2022