n 1988, at the height of the asset-inflated economic bubble in Japan, Dr Carpenter was employed as the first non-Japanese staff in a major Japanese pharmaceutical and liquor producer to launch foreign brands onto the Japanese market and to negotiate joint ventures with foreign producers. During the first Gulf War Dr Carpenter worked in a Japanese commercial television station and, during Japan's first lost decade, she worked for Japanese government agencies, including the primary lender to SMEs and the state import-export bank that provided trade insurance to Japanese heavy industries. She holds a doctorate from the University of Edinburgh Business School where she lectured on Japanese political economy and served as the Director of the MSc in International Business and Emerging Markets. Dr Carpenter operated a small business in New York State with a former Vice President of Nippon Telephone and Telegraph (NTT). Carpenter Kano Associates consulted on regional high-tech small business development for Japanese industry. From 2009 to 2016 she was the CEO of International Markets Analysts Ltd. The company conducted political and economic country risk analyses of international financial markets and engaged in the development of Scottish start-ups.
