The Corporate Strategy Workshops will examine the operations of successful Japanese and non-Japanese companies in a variety of industries with an emphasis on innovation, core competency and sustainable competitive advantage. Participants will gain an understanding of business functions such as strategic planning, marketing, operations, general management, and the application of the different functions by the companies studied. Each workshop will last two hours.

The companies examined in this series of Corporate Strategy Workshops are:

1. UNIQLO
2. Carlsberg
3. Kyocera
4. Cirque du Soleil
5. Shin-etsu Chemical
6. Air Asia
7. Nomura Holdings
8. Amanresorts
9. Rakuten
10. Apple
11. BOOKOFF

Participants will apply analytical methods (such as SWOT) to answer four questions essential to understanding the internal and external situations of any company.

1. Where is the company now?
2. How did the company get to where it is now?
3. Where does the company want to go?
4. How can the company get to where it wants to go?

The Corporate Strategy Workshops (two hours) will be highly interactive and participants are expected to actively participate in discussions. Participants will have opportunities to develop their skills in analysis, critical thinking, expressing opinions and discussions in addition to gaining knowledge of fundamental business functions. Brief case studies will be utilized to facilitate workshop discussions.

Instructor:

John Reilly has extensive business and educational experience in Japan, and an excellent understanding of Japanese and global business practices. He is an entrepreneur, business educator, corporate trainer, executive coach, lecturer on banking and finance at Hosei University in Tokyo, and consultant specializing in the financial services industry.

John’s business experience in Japan includes founding an enterprise risk management and regulatory compliance consulting firm and working in an executive position at the Japanese subsidiary of a major U.S. insurance company. As Executive Director of the International Bankers Association in Tokyo from 2000- 2005, he was a key liaison between Japanese financial regulators and the world's largest financial institutions. From 1991 to 1998, John was an independent corporate training and business education consultant in Tokyo providing services to major Japanese corporations.

John Reilly holds an M.B.A. in Global Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and a B.S. in Marketing from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He also has a Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA), awarded by University of Cambridge.