On June 30th, NUCB Business School held the last June session of its "Leading in Turbulent Times" webinar series, one of two series of open and free webinars held in June that will continue to be held weekly in July. The 4th session, entitled “Effecting Change in Japan: Traditional Culture and Its Adaptation,” was conducted by Prof. Ted Katagi, a professor at NUCB Business School and the founder and CEO of Kenja, a software company that develops e-work solutions for corporate clients in diverse industries such as Investment Banking, Insurance, Manufacturing, and Airline Transportation.

Prof. Ted’s observations were from his decades of experience working in Japan, interlaced with many anecdotes about interactions with colleagues in Japan whose actions confused him at first, but eventually shed light on key differences between his motivations and methods as a foreign-born businessman of Japanese descent and those of his native-born Japanese colleagues. The main crux of his argument about Japanese culture rested on his position that the Japanese value duty over results or outcomes, whereas the opposite tends to be true in European cultures.

Prof. Ted pointed out different ways in which change can happen in Japanese culture, underscoring that external pressure can have the biggest impact: Japan is more easily influenced by strong opinions from those outside of the communal way of thinking. COVID-19, for example, has resulted in enormous outside influence on Japan, resulting in an ability to adapt unusually quickly and in many ways far outside of the norm.

Upcoming webinar:
Rethink Design Thinking and Mobility: Innovation in COVID-19 Crisis
from the "Leading in Turbulent Times" series
July 9, 2020 06:30 PM JST
Speaker: Prof. Goi Hoe Chin , NUCB Business School



Details:
Dr. Goi received his doctorate degree in Media and Governance from Keio University and Master of Business Administration in Waseda University. His research fields include Entrepreneurship and Design Thinking. In addition, Dr. Goi has rich experience in management research on student-based venture creation in university, especially in Japan and the ASEAN region.

Currently, Dr. Goi has designed and employed a “Collaboration-based Design Thinking” model for the purpose of creating social impact in local towns. Leveraging a diverse network and local resources, Dr. Goi collaborates with community leaders, real estate corporations, and non-profit organizations to deploy experimental models in Japanese towns across the Kanagawa, Chiba, Gifu, and Aichi prefectures. Prior to doing academic research, Dr. Goi worked in the private, government, and non-profit sector of Singapore for more than a decade.

He has served as a manager in several regional Community Development Councils (government) in Singapore for about 10 years. As Assistant Director of the National Volunteerism and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC), he developed partnerships and provided consultation on corporate social responsibility (CSR) through programs for several corporations, such as Avanade (Asia) and DHL (Singapore). Throughout his career, Dr. Goi has contributed to the development and implementation of regional policies, and organized community and welfare projects that created social impact on the local community.




Please submit your interest using the form linked below:

Registrants will receive updates about the webinars leading up to the date they will be held, on which they will receive a link and access details to join the sessions.

By hosting these series, we hope to promote the interests of higher education and strengthen managerial awareness by reaching out to those who would like an opportunity to challenge themselves during a challenging time by experiencing what NUCB Business School has to offer virtually.

For any questions or concerns, please contact the NUCB Business School Administration Office at
[mba@gsm.nucba.ac.jp].