For more than ten years, the Keizai Koho Center has sponsored American business school educators on study trips to Japan.   Participants visit Japanese corporations, meet with top management and representatives of the business community, hold seminars with Japanese academics, and have numerous opportunities to engage directly with government officials and university faculty.

The purpose of the program is to stimulate curricular development of Japan-related education in American business schools and to provide participants with opportunities to pursue comparative research activities.

2007 Program.  Five professors from leading U.S. business schools were invited to Japan to  meet with Japanese business executives and top government officials to exchange views and to improve their understanding of the Japanese economy and businesses.   Participants included:

Roberto Rigobon, Associate Professor, Sloan School of Management, MIT
Victor Stango, Associate Professor of Economics, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College
Frederick D.S. Choi, Distinguished Service Professor of Business, Stern School of Business, New York University
Dawn Iacobucci, John J. Pomerantz Professor in Marketing, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Amir Ziv, Vice Dean and Professor of Accounting, Columbia Business School, Columbia University

The professors wrapped up their trip by participating in a symposium entitled, "Perspectives on Management in a Global Context."  Over one hundred participants engaged in an active discussion on the global economy, banking sector deregulation, corporate governance, marketing and business school education.  

2006 Program.  A delegation of six professors were invited to Japan to explore the theme, "Management and Innovation to Create Corporate Value."  The educators met with opinion leaders in Japan's government, business, and academic circles, and exchanged views on global strategies of Japanese corporations, corporate governance, financial issues, aging society and Japan-China economic relations.

The 2006 participants included:

Roger Noll, Professor of Stanford Graduate School of Business
W. Carl Kester, Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs, Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School
Richard Roll, Japan Alumni Chair in International Finance, Professor of The UCLA Anderson School
Edward E. Leamer, Professor of UCLA Anderson School of Management
Heather A. Haveman, Professor of Columbia University Graduate School of Business
Charles Wolf, Jr., Senior Economic Adviser and Corporate Fellow in International Economics, TAND Corp

On the final day of the program, participants took part in a symposium held at Keidanren. Professor Leamer noted that Japan should start to create values in the postindustrial intellectual service activities. Prof. Kester pointed out that M&As can be an effective means of implementing a growth strategy and an important point is that an M&A needs to be executed successfully. About 130 people attended the symposium.

2005 Program. Five professors were invited to Japan for a week-long  study program, which focused on the theme, "The Sustainability of the Japanese economy". The delegation met with leaders in Japan's government, business, and academic circles, and exchanged views on a range of issues, including Japanese corporations’ global strategies, corporate governance and social security reform.

The 2005 participants included:

Andrew B. Bernard, Professor of International Economics, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College
Charles Calomiris, Henry Kaufman Professor of Financial Institutions, Columbia Business School
Benjamin Hermalin, Willis H. Booth Professor of Banking and Finance, Walter A. Haas School of Business, University of California
James Hosek, Professor, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Theodore R. Marmor, Professor of Public Policy and Management, Yale School of Management

On the final day of the program, the delegation was featured at a policy symposium held at Keidanren. The speakers shared their insights with an audience of business leaders and corporate executives, including recommending that Japan implement its own reforms and not simply adopt the U.S. model, and observing that increased productivity is key to global success and to cope with a rising China, and that Japan should look toward other aging societies, notably in northern Europe, for options to deal with social security reforms.

 

For more information, please see:
http://www.kkc.or.jp/english/activities/index.html