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Interesting Lectures and Seminars

“New Business Development and Business Models” Working Out Strong Business Fundamentals Through Teamwork

Satoshi Shimada
2nd Year Student at the Graduate School of Commerce

This lesson takes place in the autumn intensive course of the Graduate School of Commerce's MBA program. The autumn intensive course involves five straight days of lessons (three hours of lessons a day over five days for a total of 15 hours). In the last academic year (February 2010), 20 participants from Waseda Business School's full-time class, the night class, and members of MOT got together for an extremely lively time. There were two reasons for this excitement. First of all you can come face-to-face with members you usually don't meet in your regular classes. And secondly, it was held in a style where we would practice in groups after class each day in preparation for presentations the following day. Group work time took place after lessons, and there were even some teams who would hold heated discussions late into the night. Many groups wouldn't finish up at school and continue their communications via email after returning home. Regardless of the tough schedule, materials would be completed after midnight for a 9am presentation the following morning, each team focused hard on planning their presentations. The make-up of the teams was changed every time so it was a good chance to communicate with various people.

At the beginning of the course, Professor Nagai told us, “In the business world, you will face many scenarios where you will have to produce results in a very short time. One of the aims of this course is ,through the intensive lectures you will express your opinions in group work, train and build up your stamina for sustained thinking, and each of you, through group work, find a motive to change.” In just five days I was able to experience exactly what he said.

Not only group work, but Professor Nagai's lectures were also held every day. The content of the lectures was, day one, “life cycle of business models and reexamining essential prerequisites,” day two, “strategy topics in Japanese-style corporate venturing,” day three, “competition stage theory of location-type service industries,” day four, “reality of new business development of Recruit (All About),” including having past course participants come as guest speakers, and day five, “new stages in customer satisfaction research.” Through these lectures, all participating members came to use keywords during group practice such as “essential prerequisites,” “profit zones,” “rites of passage,” “barrier,” “range, depth and competition of products,” and “CS innovation.” This was all due to the sharpness of the opening that was provided in Professor Nagai's lessons.

Through Professor Nagai's lectures and the group work and presentations, I feel it was a course where all participants, without fail, felt a “feeling of achievement” at the end.

(Offered by WASEDA WEEKLY)