After months of preparation for landing in Japan to begin their Masters degree studies in Nagoya, the students in the Spring 2019 semester of the Global Leader Program at the NUCB Business School finally arrived for orientation day. As the first and most important arrival event as students, the entire day was spent on helping students settle into their new homes, sharing practical information about the rules and procedures for daily living in Japan, academic information at the graduate school of management and half of the day was reserved for case method orientation.

Professor Nigel Denscombe is one of the longest service faculty in the Global Leader Program and is one of the most liked professors who conduct the case method style of teaching. The regular courses he offers in the program include Strategic Thinking and Competing in Emerging Markets and he also holds an important role as Case Advisor for the degree students’ business case studies as part of their Masters thesis. As a HBS graduate himself, there are few other professors at the NUCB Business School capable of introducing this methodology to new students.

To prepare the students adequately and give an interesting first look at case method for many of the students, Prof. Denscombe prepared the case ‘Yamato Transport: Replicating Japanese Success in Singapore’ which is somewhat of a typically story of how a Japanese company positioned as the dominant firm in the local market completely fails to translate success in an overseas market. Don’t you want to give case method a try?