For those following my blog, my apologies for the posting delay. We have just completed our first week in Tokyo and, frankly, I was so tired at the end of the day I simply fell asleep on our return to the hotel!
I hope you will enjoy reading the following brief accounts of our journey and trust you have found the blog posts of the students who have far more energy than myself.
By all accounts, the trip has been a rewarding adventure.
The final business visit for day 2 was to the Customer Service and Solution Center for DoCoMo, the leading provider of mobile telephone service in Japan. Students were provided with a presentations and demonstrations of both the current advanced services available in Japan and an insight into DoCoMo’s vision of the futur
A hands-on experience of potential 3D image-based services expected to be delivered over a next generation mobile data network added to the experience.
In addition to the followup discussion of the technology and business models the visit generated, the conversation also included a discussion of the impressive architectural character of the DoCoMo headquarters building.
The next visit was to Avaya-Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of the US-based multinational provider of voice and data business communication hardware and software. (Disclosure: I served as Chief Marketing Officer and senior management executive for the firm from 1999-2002.) The students were briefed by Takeshi Kase, Director of Marketing for Japan and Korea, and Gary Garner, the regional sales leader for Multinational Account Sales. In addition to his regional managerial responsibilities, Gary handles the Asian accounts for GE, Citibank, Wal-Mart and Volkswagen.
Kase and Gary focused their presentation on the critical meaning of “quality” and “customer service” in the demanding and highly competitive Japanese communications market. Students gained valuable insights into the significant differences encountered in Japan relative to other markets and how companies deal with the challenges and opportunities of the marketplace.
Our second day in Tokyo began with a visit with Jeremy Shaw, President of Intralink-Japan, a market access and business development firm focused on assisting small and medium size high-tech firms enter the Japanese market. Students and faculty engaged in a stimulating discussion. In particular, gaining a perspective that differed from the government views expressed the first morning by JETRO executives was most interesting. The conversation helped set the tone for the followup discussions that are part of the seminar approach being used for the trip. It also provided a framework for understanding the subsequent business visits later in the trip.
