Japanese Business Schools: Grooming Entrepreneurs

TopMBA.com looks at how Japanese business schools are encouraging a new generation of entrepreneurs.

As Japan is now experiencing a generation change, an increasing number of young people go against the grain and embark on a business venture while seeking an internationally-focused MBA education. Naturally, setting up and running a new business requires presence in the country.

This is where a new breed of MBA schools comes in. They provide practical and flexible business education in Japan without sacrificing the global aspect, and they strongly encourage entrepreneurial leadership.

Hands-on training by business practitioners

The founders of two private universities and business schools in Japan are amongst the country’s foremost business experts.

Yoshito Hori, an MBA graduate from Harvard Business School, founded the GLOBIS Management School in 1992. GLOBIS’ Japanese-taught Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (GDBA) program was set up in 2003. In 2006 the school started to issue MBA degrees. Hori is now the dean of GLOBIS University and considered to be one of Japan’s most successful entrepreneurs.

“GLOBIS itself is an entrepreneurial enterprise established by Dean Hori and his classes are based upon his own practical experience of setting up this business, in which I was very interested,” says GLOBIS graduate Hirofumi Tanaka.

Kenichi Ohmae Graduate School of Business (KOGSB) is Japan’s only business school that provides internet- and satellite-based distance education via their AirCampus platform. The dean of the school, Dr Kenichi Ohmae, a partner at McKinsey for 25 years, has a wide network of partners and colleagues in the Japanese business community who give lectures to KOGSB students.

The MBA meets the entrepreneurial mission

Inoue Toshihiro graduated from KOGSB in 2007 and set up Living Style, an interior design company, in the same year.

“In starting up a firm it is easy to lose sight of the whole situation or of the fundamentals due to everyday occurrences and being swayed by the opinions of clients. The KOGSB program stresses problem identification and solutions and I have grown into the habit of constantly reviewing why I started my own business and what the significance of my enterprise is from a larger perspective.”

“Japan has been suffering from an economic downturn for nearly twenty years. Even major firms are struggling for existence in this competitive condition. Business people are now required to act as entrepreneurs and pursue self-improvement and MBA schools are responsible for providing a curriculum to meet their needs,” says Tsuyoshi Yasuda, MBA curriculum coordinator at KOGSB.

Tanaka Naoki, a KOGSB 2007 graduate, is the head of sales at HD Parts, a company that manufacturers spare parts for motorbikes.

“How fast one can react to change – to that of society and the needs of customers – has become an important factor in starting businesses but also in continuing them. Those with both an MBA and a sense of entrepreneurship will have the knowledge necessary to settling down in regular jobs or starting their own enterprises.”

Chance for foreign entrepreneurs in Japan

The GLOBIS International MBA program (IMBA), a two-year part-time MBA program in English, was established in 2009 and the launch of an English-taught one-year full-time MBA program is set for 2012. Of the 2009/2010 IMBA intake 32% of students are foreigners who live and work in Japan, including foreign entrepreneurs who set up and run a business in Japan.

Edi Liss-Debbie from Israel is currently enrolled in the GLOBIS IMBA program. He is the CEO of GIshuR International Ltd, an import and sales company specializing in Israeli high fashion and designer jewelry.

“As a practicing entrepreneur I joined the course to maximize my abilities. An important aspect of leadership that I learned at GLOBIS was through my encounter with the diversity of people and professionals there. My Japanese fellow students helped me reflect on my local Japanese market activities and students from other Asian countries assisted in opening a window to a more globally Asian approach – expanding my business opportunities and my entrepreneurship horizon far beyond where they were before.”

MBA entrepreneurship in a recession

MBA graduates with an entrepreneurial spirit don’t seem tethered by adverse business conditions but they take the plunge and set up their own business while Japan is still recovering from the effects of the global economic crisis.

Nanno Tomochika, the CEO of Crea Japan, a web platform dedicated to art, creativity and culture, graduated from KOGB in 2009 and set up Crea Japan in 2010.

“Due to the prolonging recession, there is a sense of limitation in the economic situation of Japan. Traditional enterprises, university graduates and venture capitalists tend to seek stability and therefore turn to immediate short-term business.”

“However, those who try and change society in the long-term must have a bird's eye perspective to see the bigger picture and a strong spirit to involve others in abolishing the status quo. An MBA holder with entrepreneurship fosters such qualities and can approach and challenge social issues from a global perspective.”

GLOBIS graduate Hirofumi Tanaka is now the representative partner at J-Capital Partners, a private equity fund specialized in MBO and IPO which he set up in 2010.

“At GLOBIS we are taught how to become ‘visionary leaders who create and innovate society’. I set up my own company, however if established companies take risks, it becomes possible for them to push forward with innovation within their organization, to succeed in new markets and create new employment opportunities. No matter what the circumstances are, the entrepreneurial spirit is extremely important.”