When Kazuo Ichijo attended the University of Michigan in the early 1990s, he studied alongside 15 Japanese managers sponsored for MBAs by large companies seeking to open up to the world.
Despite a commitment from their corporate backers to lifetime employment, only a few remained for long at their businesses after returning to Japan. Most became frustrated and left to join consultancies or multinationals.
Now the dean of Hitotsubashi University Business School in Tokyo, Professor Ichijo is on the front line of efforts to enhance and expand the provision of business education in his country. The aim is to train a new generation of managers at home and to attract more students from abroad.