As part of PGP program, IIM Nagpur offers a week-long international immersion module to its students. The objective of this course to provide exposure to another country’s business culture, traditions and practices.
Japan, is home to some of the largest economic powerhouses. It is the land where principles such as Kaizen, Jidoka are evolved now widely adopted across many industries. Our tour to Japan started from Tokyo metropolis which is home to roughly 10% of Japan’s population. We stayed at the Marunouchi bay area, a business district in Tokyo which provided us with a chance to witness first-hand the daily life of typical corporate employees called salaryman. It is a society built on rules, where responsibilities are defined for every person and followed strictly. Hence in 7 decades since the second world war, it not only risen as a global power but did it in an environmentally sustainable manner. The impact from such culture will help in moulding managers of tomorrow. The module is designed in a way that students were exposed to various facets of management principles that are taught in the classroom. We had a chance to interact with executives from companies working in the space of manufacturing, logistics, banking, e-commerce, tourism, and green technology.
One of the reasons for Japan’s economic boom is technological development from its manufacturing sectors. Some of the companies which symbolize this perfectly are Toyota and Nissan. The first leg of the tour we visited the manufacturing plants of the both Toyota and Nissan we had the opportunity to see the process mixed model production line, the methodology of Kaizen, Jidoka, Andon systems. The interesting learning from the visit is the absence of a dedicated quality assurance team in the plant. Instead of checking the vehicles at the end of the line, quality assurance is done at every stage of the manufacturing which means greater accountability and responsibility is attributed to its workers.
Japan has one of the most efficient railway networks of Shinkansen (Bullet Trains). During our visit to Tokyo metro station, we witnessed the “7-minute miracle” cleaning of a Shinkansen and chance to interact with executives from the international business of JR East who are also technology advisors to bullet train project between Ahmedabad and Mumbai in India.
We had the opportunity to interact with executives from companies like Seven Eleven Corporation, EcoCycle Corporation, MUFG and Rakuten who briefed us on the business practices followed by these companies.
In the last leg of the tour, we had the privilege of interacting with the Indian Ambassador to Japan His Excellency Mr Sujan R. Chinoy, who shared his views on Japanese culture, learning we should take away from the tour. The key takeaway from the entire tour is “customer first” attitude which is followed religiously by companies.