Business School (MBA Program) Instructor Profile

The objective of the course is to help students become “intelligent readers” of the financial reports of public companies. The course focuses on understanding how the primary financial statements, including cash flow statements, are prepared and learning in-depth about accounting standards (based mainly on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)) related to individual topics such as revenues, inventory, long-lived assets, leases, and pensions, etc. This course can be helpful for students who want to be equipped with accounting knowledge that aids financial statement analysis. This course covers the use of financial accounting in actual business contexts. This course combines lectures and discussions of the assigned materials. A practitioner lecturer provides this course with practical accounting experience.

This course mainly examines corporate governance in Asian countries from a legal perspective. Corporate governance in Asian countries has provided an interesting subject for various segments of people in Japan and abroad because of the rapid growth of those economies. Business promotion in those countries particularly necessitates a good understanding of that subject. For this reason, this course aims to enable attendees to acquire (1) a thorough understanding of the history of those countries, market systems therein, and the legal characteristics thereof, all of which affect corporate governance there and (2) the ability to examine corporate governance in major Asian countries (China, Singapore, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, etc.) theoretically and practically from a legal perspective in comparison with corporate governance in the UK, the U.S., and the EU. Each class will be given in an interactive manner, with attendees making reports on each relevant chapter of an English textbook, putting questions about those reports to each other, and having discussions.

The course aims to enable students to acquire vast specialized knowledge of finance. Students will learn finance theories and specific data analysis methods as minimum requirements for performing the duties of corporate management, planning, or finance, or the duties of investment and banking at financial institutions. Students will begin by learning what functions the financial market, which covers interest, stocks, securities, etc., carries out in the economy and society. After that, they will acquire a thorough understanding of a wide variety of financial products and the transaction methods of major market players, including institutional investors. In the theoretical part of the course, students will learn how to analyze cash flow in an uncertain situation first and then how to measure the value of investment projects, companies and securities, which is fundamental to M&A. Moreover, students will acquire vast knowledge of corporate finance, including the capital and dividend policies of companies. In the second half of the course, students will learn portfolio theory, which underpins investor behavior, and derivative transactions, which are essential for risk management.

This course aims to enable students to study investment and corporate management focused on ESG, or environmental, social, and governance. ESG investment is investment in companies that greatly contribute to society through which investors aim to boost their investment performance, while ESG management is a type of corporate management through which companies aim to increase their profits by conducting socially needed businesses. It is thought that both ESG investment and ESG management will become more important in the capital market in the future. Students will begin by learning the principles of ESG investment and ESG management and their historical backgrounds to deepen their understanding of ESG. Next, students will learn the realities of ESG investment and ESG management from specific examples of ESG investment methods used by institutional investors and ESG management methods used by companies. After that, they will acquire practical skills in ESG investment and ESG management while learning empirical theories about the impacts of ESG on investment performance and corporate value.

The course aims to enable students to learn specialized theories about investment management performed by institutional investors and applied skills in the practice of investment management. Major world-class institutional investors manage a huge amount of funds in the global market by making full use of the most advanced investment management methods. In this course, students will begin by learning the basics of portfolio theory, which underpins investment management. Afterward, the scope of learning will be expanded to practical applications based on advanced methods. In the application part of the course, students will learn representative themes concerning the practice of investment management in detail, study major theories behind them, and then receive practical training and conduct positive analysis to acquire expert skills in investment management. The course covers asset allocation, diversified international investment, factor management, smart beta management, bond portfolio construction and cash flow management, methods of evaluating investment performance, risk management methods, and investment methods using AI.

In this Research Guidance course, students will receive research guidance based on knowledge of Finance, ESG Investment and Sustainable Finance, and Investment Management Theory and Practice, on which business administration builds, toward the completion of their Master’s thesis about the research theme they determine.

This course aims to enable students to learn about the overall framework of the corporate tax system, focusing on the corporate tax and the consumption tax, which are core taxes in Japan, as well as local taxes. In Japan, taxes comprise taxes on income (six national taxes and two local taxes), taxes on assets (three national taxes and 11 local taxes), and taxes on consumption (15 national taxes and 10 local taxes). Of them, the corporate tax, the consumption tax, and the income tax are referred to as “core taxes” (major sources of tax revenues). This course deals with not only the framework of Japanese taxes but also the history and points of tax reforms in the Diet and the reasons why each tax act was introduced. In addition, the course also discusses the significance of acts, cabinet orders and circular notices, ministry orders and circular notices, etc.

This course aims to enable students to acquire knowledge of the realities and principles of the tax system for corporate reorganization, the tax system for corporate business succession, and the M&A-specific tax system, which is included in the tax system for corporate reorganization. The course clarifies the patterns of responses that a company must make to specific tax systems when it takes action toward reorganization or for other purposes. Most of those responses that the company must make to tax systems are provided for by the Corporation Tax Act. Among those provisions, this course focuses especially on the provisions for taxes concerning corporate reorganization and M&A. Students will learn the aims of the establishment of each tax system and recently discussed topics in light of the history of changes in corporate behavior, rather than sticking to its details.

This course aims to enable students to learn the process of adjustment between financial accounting and tax accounting. The process of tax calculation follows the calculation of accounting profit, based on which the amount of tax is calculated. The amount of accounting profits is calculated by subtracting the amount of expenses from income, while taxable income is calculated by subtracting losses from profits. In other words, the process of adjustment between profits (= income − expenses) and taxable income (= profits − losses) is generally called “tax accounting.” This course starts with explaining the concepts of “accounting profits” and “taxable income” and then the relation between taxes and accounting. In addition, the process of adjustment between the two items is clarified to give students an overall picture of accounting and taxes.

In this Research Guidance course, students will receive research guidance based on knowledge of Taxes, Corporate Taxes for Organizational Changes, and Tax Accounting toward the completion of their Master’s thesis about the research theme they determine.

In this Research Guidance course, students will receive research guidance based on knowledge of Corporate Strategy and International Accounting toward the completion of their Master’s thesis about the research theme they determine.

This course aims to enable students to learn basic concepts concerning corporate strategy and try to apply them practically. The course starts with explaining the main concepts, including “business diversification” and “global management” related to corporate strategy, as well as “cost leadership strategy,” “differentiation strategy,” and “business system strategy” related to business strategy. The course also elaborates on the concept of “dynamic capabilities,” a company’s ability to dynamically adapt to a rapidly changing environment, just like the current environment surrounding us. After that, students will learn organizational conditions for these elements and how to analyze the external environment. Based on these matters, the focus of the course shifts to case studies about corporate strategy. Here it is crucial for all students to participate in discussions to deepen their understanding. They are required to thoroughly read class materials in advance according to necessity.

The purpose of the course is to enable students to learn, from the field of corporate management, what kinds of attitudes, skill sets, and leadership an entrepreneur must have. More specifically, students will learn the realities of various entrepreneurs in the world from case studies and the essence of entrepreneurship through direct dialogue with renowned entrepreneurs. This course aims to enable students to establish their own aspirations as an entrepreneur, identify the challenges they must solve to achieve the aspirations, and envision their own career paths toward their future growth as an entrepreneur.

The world today is seeing the rapid progress of digital transformation (DX), including technological innovation in communications, software, sensing, etc. and the utilization of big data and AI. In this situation, companies are facing a wide range of challenges, including those of how they can utilize DX, what resources are appropriate investment targets for that purpose, and what kinds of risks should be focused on in the process of developing business models for risk management. This course aims to provide students with a good understanding of such trends toward DX and a guide to corporate management methods and to lead them to in-depth discussions about what practices are really needed.

This course aims to guide students to understand how to change corporate management. The course starts with explaining the definition of change corporate management and its real examples. Next, the four representative models for changing corporate management will be introduced: the shrink-to-grow model, the self-disruption model, the model of a portfolio of initiatives, and the Möbius-strip model. The characteristics of each model, the key to successful use of them, and possible risks entailed by them will be examined. Finally, students will learn about the 8-step process for leading change as a method of making meaningful changes to corporate management and deepen their understanding of models for changing corporate management in the era of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), characterized by the unpredictability of the future.

In the first half of this course, students will learn the four basic models for global management and particularly examine the transnational (glocal) model in detail. They will understand the importance of the roles of the “center of excellence” in that model and consider how to share knowledge globally. The second half of the course will be dedicated to introducing the latest models, including the AAA strategy, the emerging economy strategy, and innovation at the edge. Students will learn how to apply these models to real corporate management through case studies.

Innovation is the growth engine of a company. In the first half of the course, students will learn the mechanisms for and dynamism of innovation. The basic methods of product innovation, process innovation, etc. will be also introduced. The second half of the course focuses on applied approaches, including open innovation, reverse innovation, and business model innovation, so that students will be able to learn how to apply these approaches to real-world businesses from various cases.

This course aims to give an organized overall picture of international trends toward sustainability and trace the history of changes in CSR and business ethics over time. The course also deals with the SDGs and ESG investment, both of which have been a recent focus of public attention, to offer students deeper insight into the relationships between non-financial factors and corporate value and to lead them to consider what will be desirable corporate value in a sustainable society. The second half of the course focuses on the strategy of creating shared value (CSV), which links sustainability to corporate value, to explore how sustainability should be linked directly to real-world corporate management.

This course aims to enable students to learn how to think and develop ideas to meet customer needs and provide valuable products and services for customers. Students will also learn about various activities for applying such ways of thinking and developing ideas strategically. The first half of the course focuses on increasing students’ understanding of basic concepts relating to marketing, including 4P, 4C and STP analysis and other strategic marketing approaches, consumer behavior analysis, product development, product differentiation, distribution channels, value chains, communication strategy, and online marketing. Based on knowledge of these concepts, the second half of the course will be centered on case studies and dedicated to more advanced discussions about customer relationships, brand establishment and growth, digital marketing, service marketing, and manufacturers’ shift to the service business. Moreover, students and the instructor will have in-depth discussions about contemporary themes, such as data analysis, innovation, job theory, value co-creation with customers, and user experience, in view of their practical applications. Students are required to submit a short essay in each class so that they will become fully aware of what questions they want to tackle.

This course aims to enable students to understand the concept of a brand, which plays a leading role in corporate activities and organizational management, and learn how to perform management based on equity resources and the brand philosophy, both of which determine the direction of business. With brand equity and brand identity as a starting point, the first half of the course, given in a lecture style, focuses on guiding students to acquire knowledge and understanding of types of brands by company, product and service, brand hierarchy, and the basic functions and roles of brands, including strategic expansion, as well as brand systems. In the second half of the course, students and the instructor will have discussions based on case studies about branding that can help establish both unique distinctive value and close relationships with customers so that students will be able to deepen their knowledge of practical activities and skills, including brand loyalty, brand relation, and internal branding, on a project basis. Furthermore, students will gain a deeper insight into brand management, which is expanding to various fields—B2B, local communities, nation states, medical institutions, and universities—through brand purposes and meaning-based branding in parallel with the progress of digitalization.

In this Research Guidance course, students will receive research guidance based on knowledge of Marketing Management and Brand Management toward the completion of their Master’s thesis about the research theme they determine.

This course aims to reveal the contemporary international situation and its meaning to corporate management through a geo-economic approach, which helps analyze the international situation based on geography, ethnicity, religion, resources, demography, etc. More specifically, this course deals with ethical issues entailed by economic policies, the impact of international frameworks, such as the WTO, the cost of economic growth, etc. In addition, current issues, including the meaning of China’s hegemonism and the rise of nationalism, will be also discussed.

In this Research Guidance course, students will receive research guidance based on knowledge of International Economics toward the completion of their Master’s thesis about the research theme they determine.

This course aims to enable students to understand M&A strategy and the M&A process and acquire a level of knowledge that will immediately help them even if they actually get involved in M&A operations.

1. M&A strategy
2. M&A process
3. Corporate evaluation in M&A
4. Post-merger integration (PMI)
5. Learn about private equity and other matters and tackle the questions of how an M&A can succeed and what will lead an M&A to failure This course is taught not only in a one-way lecture style but also with case studies on HOYA and JT and guest speakers with first-hand experience in cross-border M&A so that students will be able to acquire practical knowledge of M&A.

This course is intended for students in bookkeeping and accounting to acquire the basic knowledge and perspectives of commercial bookkeeping for commercial enterprises and industrial bookkeeping for manufacturers. The course starts with imparting to students knowledge of additive subtraction, a calculation method, unique to the double-entry bookkeeping system, which uses the double-classification and settlement of debits and credits, as well as the basic concepts of assets, liabilities, capital, income, and expenses. In commercial bookkeeping, students will learn about the structures of a balance sheet and an income statement and the calculational relationship between them, and then they learn how to record and compile data on activities such as purchase and sale to prepare financial statements that accurately reflect those activities. In industrial bookkeeping, students will learn mechanisms for calculating material costs, labor costs, and other costs as the cost of manufacturing a product in the cycle of material procurement, product manufacturing, and sale in the manufacturing industry.

This Research Guidance course assists in research guidance for students based on knowledge of Management Accounting, which is necessary for management decision-making, toward the completion of their Master’s thesis about the research theme they determine.

This course aims to enable students to obtain specialized knowledge and perspectives of financial accounting and management accounting. Financial accounting is intended for stakeholders outside a company, while management accounting is intended for various levels of business managers, including top management. While taking some examples, the course elaborates on the two roles of financial accounting: sharing information that is necessary for stakeholders’ decision-making and supporting management in entering into contracts. In addition, heightened awareness of ESG and the SDGs in the international community has recently required companies to disclose non-financial information, which will be also explained mainly based on integrated reports in this course. Meanwhile, the course also deals with the role of management accounting in cost management, budget management, and performance management while taking some examples and mentioning new DX-related management methods as well. The course finally discuss approaches toward company analysis that combine knowledge of financial accounting and management accounting with management strategy.

This course aims to enable students to learn strategies for technology management. The studies of Technology Management can be briefly described as the studies of corporate management strategy, focusing on technology or the studies of corporate management strategy that leverages technology. The studies of Technology Management are sometimes referred to as the studies of “technology-based corporate management” or “innovation management.” In general, strategic management is essential for completing a product based on the results of research and technology development, launching it on the market, and raising it to a product that can be accepted by a wide range of customers while continuing to win fierce competition against other companies that enter the market one after another. This course not only deals with the management of research, technology development, and production but also examines how technological prowess can be linked to customer value to ensure that the business will take root and grow and furthermore how intellectual property as the fruit of R&D should be managed, while taking examples from various industries.

In this course, students will learn about the basic concepts of Japanese Industrial Manufacturing Management (monozukuri Management). This includes technology management, production management, supplier management, value creation, manufacturing, and industrial competitiveness. We will explore the interface between engineering and the social sciences from a multidisciplinary viewpoint.

This course aims to enable students to learn how to think and develop ideas to meet customer needs and provide valuable products and services for customers. Students will also learn about various activities for applying such ways of thinking and developing ideas strategically. The first half of the course focuses on increasing students’ understanding of basic concepts relating to marketing, including 4P, 4C and STP analysis and other strategic marketing approaches, consumer behavior analysis, product development, product differentiation, distribution channels, value chains, communication strategy, and online marketing. Based on knowledge of these concepts, the second half of the course will be centered on case studies and dedicated to more advanced discussions about customer relationships, brand establishment and growth, digital marketing, service marketing, and manufacturers’ shift to the service business. Moreover, students and the instructor will have in-depth discussions about contemporary themes, such as data analysis, innovation, job theory, value co-creation with customers, and user experience, in view of their practical applications. Students are required to submit a short essay in each class so that they will become fully aware of what questions they want to tackle.

In this course, students will learn about the basic concepts of Japanese Industrial Manufacturing Management (monozukuri Management). This includes technology management, production management, supplier management, value creation, manufacturing, and industrial competitiveness. We will explore the interface between engineering and the social sciences from a multidisciplinary viewpoint.

Top corporate management must establish leadership to produce satisfactory results by winning the hearts and minds of the staff. This course aims to enable students to learn the requirements that leaders must meet irrespective of the time and the new requirements that they must meet in the current age of drastic changes toward the near future.

This course enables students to learn how to manage human resources, one kind of rare resources for companies. Effective use of human resources will help companies achieve their company-wide goals and boost their overall performance. Human resource management (HRM) at Japanese companies has developed in a unique way in line with working styles and labor markets in the country. This course aims to help students deepen their knowledge of basic HRM-related concepts, such as “work motivation” and “organizational commitment,” and learn systematically about the characteristics of the Japanese way of corporate HRM and the global HRM standards. Based on the deepened and newly obtained knowledge, students will discuss future visions of corporate HRM from the perspective of international comparison.

This course aims to enable students to learn about International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) from a practical perspective. IFRS are currently used in more than 140 countries as a set of international standards for corporate financial reporting. In Japan too, the use of IFRS is spreading, with companies that have voluntarily adopted IFRS accounting for over 40% of the total market capitalization of the Japanese stock market. Understanding of IFRS is now one of the key business skills. Moreover, the field of corporate financial reporting has recently been seeing various changes. It is also important to understand the details and backgrounds of those changes. In this course, students will learn the basic principles and content of IFRS to become able to fully grasp the condition of each company from IFRS-based financial information. They will then deepen their understanding of IFRS by comparing IFRS with other accounting standards and analyzing examples of real financial statements.