Industry Needs Surveys
We are facing a globalized era in which even small-medium enterprises (SME) have to advance overseas, especially in Asia, for their markets and bases of operation. Compared to big enterprises, SMEs might suffer from a shortfall of human resources for management who can work globally and might not have enough educational opportunity inside companies as they advance overseas. Kwansei Gakuin University Business School is setting up a new human resource development program in collaboration with Asian business schools to help such companies.
Therefore, we visited executives of six leading local Kansai companies to conduct a hearing survey on how they recognize a business school and whether they will have the possibility of sending their employees to business schools.
Summary of Main Results
| 1. | Do local Kansai companies know the contents of a Japanese MBA program?” They all know the existence of business schools and understand the educational contents. However, many of them thought business schools exist just to educate employees of big companies, not their smaller local companies. |
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| 2. | How did local Kansai companies choose local supervisors when advancing overseas? They, in general, advanced with support from associated backbone companies or partner companies. Two companies recruited new specialists to advance overseas. The other companies sent their employees, and went through many difficulties. |
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| 3. | Where did local Kansai companies advance overseas, especially in Asia? They advanced to various countries in Asia such as China, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, and also in the United States. |
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| 4. | What difficulties did local Kansai companies have in overseas advancement? They had a lot of difficulties such as language, communication, a recognition gap from cultural differences, differences in practical processes, and difficulties in technological transfer. In general, they had to deal with individual, practical issues by themselves regarding their own businesses although they did get advice about common business matters from predecessors or consultants. |
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| 5. | What do local Kansai companies expect from a business school? A president of a company who led overseas said learning in a local business school would be very valuable if it could offer practical knowledge demanded in the local area. He emphasized the necessity of knowing local legal work and the local accounting system because such knowledge is needed practically for the start-up of local companies. |
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| 6. | Will local Kansai companies send their employees to business school?
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