In the afternoon of the second day at Summer Davos, I participated in the Workspace brainstorming session entitled “Future Integration of Northeast Asia.” It was the topic we have discussed several times on different occasions, and I had wondered whether we could propose something new. During the session, the news that Naoto Kan was elected to be the leader of DPJ. In the second breakout session, we were supposed to give advice to the political leader. It was a good timing! We came up with several proposals and the general discussion of the whole group was quite interesting (more so than I had expected.)
At the end of the day was the panel entitled “Sustainability and Corporate Competitiveness” which I chaired. As we heard the term “sustainability” so many times over the past day and a half, we tried to offer different perspective. I always get nervous when I moderate/chair the session, but with the help of the four business people (we lost one of the panelists at the last minute), we finished the session fine. I felt relieved after the panel and was ready to hit the Italian town.
Seeing Italian town in the center of Tianjin was rather interesting experience, but having wine, good food and good company (I ran into many old friends) was the best way to end the day.
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.
