One of the things I love about going to grad school, especially one that's related to business, is that you get to learn things that are practical. Coming from an engineering background, learning stuff about management is an eye-opening experience.
Regardless of the fact that this is not the best business school in Japan, nor does it boast the best facilities, I think I've gained a whole lot more than if I had stayed back in my previous workplace. True that OTJ gets you more than school work does. But on hindsight, if I had stayed on, I would've stagnated and eventually rotted away!
Entrepreneurship and New Business Development is by far one of my favourite subjects here. The lecturer, unabashedly claims himself to be the top consultant in Japan. His company has so many top-notch companies that they do not need to find more clients! Their corporate website is understated and do not give away any clues as to how well they are already doing.
The only downside is that this class is held on alternate Saturdays. But he comes in with an air of confidence, ready to impart his insights and experience into the world of Japan consumerism and how to start a new business in this country. There are no textbooks, no reference materials. Just him speaking and us listening in awe. Well, maybe awe is a strong word, but he manages to keep us interested enough on Saturdays when everyone else is sleeping away or doing their groceries in Jusco.
We just concluded the last class with a final presentation. Each group had to come up with a business idea with regards to the Japanese market. Prior to that he would give us consultation sessions which were supposedly worth thousands of Yen in the real market. Not surprising as he travels around the world giving advice and talks to business people and students.
Our idea seemed simple at first, especially when other teams also did outstanding jobs in their presentations. The premises, basic assumptions, target market, marketing and promotion, financial projections, competitive advantages and future plans were all well thought of.
He invited 2 real-life investors to come and judge our presentations. Each had "Y10omillion" to invest in our "companies". The results was surprising and expected at the same time. They judged based on their personal background and know-how of the industry, and gave valuable feedback as to whether our business plan would work in the real world.
The marks given by the 2 judges were very close and it was quite hard to tell who would win. Our lecturer eventually shocked us when he gave Y0 to 2 teams and decided to split his Y100million to the reamining 2 teams. The other team which was also into mobile got Y10m while ours got Y90m!
May and I were so excited we squealed in delight. We seriously thought the other teams would win as they had evidently put in more effort than us. However, it all boiled down to how feasible the business plans were and the attractiveness to potential investors.
One thing I noted was that most of the Japanese were proficient in financials. Some of them came from banking background while the rest clearly had exposure to corporate finance. No wonder no you can't find any Japanese in any of the Marketing courses. Finance is where the money is!
And oh, since there was an abundance of food from our lunch party, we decided to take away the rest for snacks. I bagged myself a bottle of red wine!
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