The 41st Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum is scheduled to start on Wedneday, January 26 in Davos, Switzerland. I am to moderate the workshop entitled “Nordic Competitiveness” on Saturday, January 29. This year’s theme is Shared Norms for the New Reality and one of the regions featured is the Nordic countries.
While Europe in general has struggled with various problems in recent years, Nordic countries such as Norway, Finland, Denmark and Sweden, are consistently ranked high in the Global Competitiveness Ranking and have had fewer problems than other European countries. What are the reasons behind it? What actions have the governments, private sectors etc. have taken? These are the issues we plan to explore.
On Friday, January 28,there will be a panel by the political leaders of the Nordic countries. Our workshop on Saturday is the follow-up on the plenary panel to identify the strengths of the Nordic countries and to explore whether and how they can be applied to other regions.
As I teach Competitiveness course now and also made a key note speech at the Innovation Lecture in the Netherlands, I am very interested in the topic itself and feel very honored to be given the opportunity to moderate the workshop. Though it means teleconferencing to discuss details and exchange of notes via e-mail for preparation, I feel this is a great opportunity for me to find out more about the Nordic countries.
Yoko Ishikura is a Professor at Hitotsubashi University ICS in the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy in Japan. She has held positions as a professor at the School of International Politics, Economics and Business of Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, as a consultant at McKinsey and Company Inc. Japan and a visiting professor at Darden School.
Professor Ishikura is a consultant to a number of multinational companies and has been a frequent speaker at management conferences, seminars, and workshops throughout the world. She was a member of the Regulatory Reform Committee for the Japanese government and the International Competitiveness Commission for METI. She is currently a Forum Fellow of the World Economic Forum.
She is the author of Strategic Shift from OR choices to AND paradigm, Building Core Skills of Organization , and the co-author of the following publications: Managing Diversity in the 21st Century, Strategy for Cluster Initiatives in Japan , and Building a Career to the World Class Professionals – all in Japanese. Her books in English include: Asian Advantage, Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management and Trust and Antitrust in Asian Business Alliances.
Professor Ishikura’s current research interests are focused on global competition, innovation, and knowledge management. She received her BA from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan; MBA from Darden School, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia; and DBA from Harvard Business School.
