Changing Japan from the inside

MBAChina
2012-05-21 13:36 浏览量: 778

Nov 28th 2011, 12:34 by B.R.

THE seminar, on the effect of purchasing power parity exchange rates on the Japanese economy, was hardly earth moving. Yet the floor started trembling anyway. Not violently, perhaps. Rather, it felt like what it was; an echo of far off events. 

The rumble beneath his chair was the first that Masakatsu Mori, the president of the International University of Japan (IUJ), knew about the earthquake that was devastating the north of his country. IUJ, in Niigita, is 160 miles from the epicentre; a mountain range divides them. “But on a global map, it looks very close," he says.

Although the physical damage was slight, the effect on the university was seismic. March 11th, when the quake struck, is the very beginning of its recruitment season. The school worked incessantly to reassure would-be applicants that it was still safe to come. Sponsored students, such as those being paid for by the IMF, were mostly persuaded. Many others were not. The school cut its class size from 230 to 189. Exchange students from Europe stayed away. 

(The disruption also stopped it from collecting data for The Economist ranking of MBA programmes; before this year, it consistently made the top 100.)

In the days after the earthquake, information was difficult to come by. A third of the students fled the campus. “We were concerned that some wouldn’t come back,” says Mr Mori. The school carried on teaching. It set up video links to its lectures, so that the students who had left Japan could continue their studies. 

The school’s prospects are only now recovering. Philip Sugai, the dean of IUJ's business school, says that the early signs are that recruiting for next year’s programme is back on track. It is important that the damage is not long-lasting. Japan is already a small market for the MBA. Fewer than 3,000 Japanese students sat the GMAT (the de facto entrance exam for many MBA programmes) in 2010—well behind China, India, South Korea and Taiwan. And fewer than 1,000 MBA candidates worldwide sent their score to a Japanese business school for consideration.

One reason is that Japanese businessmen are less likely to consider taking a career break or switching firms. “Japanese corporations manage internally,” says Mr Mori. “The top executives [have usually spent] 30 or 40 years at the same company.”

A model of open corporate governance, which is preached at IUJ, can also make the country’s traditional firms wary. Witness the recent problems at Olympus, a camera maker. It sacked its British boss, Michael Woodford, when he blew the whistle upon discovering that the company had shelled out $1.3 billion in spurious deals in order to hide losses on securities. The company said he was removed because of his inability to grasp Japanese corporate culture.

Mr Mori agrees that such an old-fashioned culture needs to be challenged, particularly if Japanese firms are to take advantage of the burgeoning Asian markets around them. The school has signed up close to 40 Japanese corporations, including Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo brand, and Japan Tobacco, to a global partnership programme, in which they will collaborate on education programmes, training and research. It is a sign, he says, that Japanese firms are beginning to look outwardly.

Another sign that things are changing, says Mr Sugai, is that firms such as Fast Retailing are adopting English as their corporate language. “As you see that trend increase, he says, “then you will also see an increase in globally-focused MBAs.” The shift to English is more than symbolic, adds Mr Mori. “As the Asian market becomes more integrated, some companies will be looking [to launch] single products for the Asian market, so the challenge is to bring back Japan to the centre of Asia.” It isn’t about money or technology, he says: “Only the people can do it.”

It seems as if academia in Japan is evolving. This month, the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) was inaugurated as a graduate university. It too is seeking to challenge the country's rigid academic system and encourage independence of thought. It will be interesting to see the extent to which such institutions are accepted. 

 

Read onJapan’s cherished loyalty system is part of the problem

Correction to this article: IUJ is in Niigata, not Nigita, and is 160 miles from the epicentre of the earthquake, not 300, as originally reported. The intake fell from 220 not 230. This was amended on 29th November.

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